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Blitzboks want to keep try-scoring phenomenon on Sevens circuit

Angelo Davids of Team South Africa goes over to score a try during the Men's Semi-Final match between Team Australia and Team South Africa on day three of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at Coventry Stadium on July 31, 2022 on the Coventry, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

The Blitzboks admit that they are desperate to keep Commonwealth Games try-scoring phenomenon Angelo Davids playing the shortened form of the game.

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Davids – a product of the Stormers and Western Province – proved a devastating weapon for South Africa as they won gold at the games in Birmingham.

Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell praised all his players after the triumph but revealed he is hopeful that Davids will play Sevens full-time.

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Ten of the Blitzboks’ 34 tries were scored by Davids, who returned to the South Africa team after an impressive showing during the Carling Currie Cup season with DHL Western Province.

The 23-year-old scored hat-tricks in three games – the pool encounters against Malaysia and Scotland, and again in the semi-final against Australia – many of the five-pointers coming from the clever use of kicks, especially from Selvyn Davids.

“I think we must bring Angelo permanently back to sevens again,” said Powell when quizzed on Davids’ future. “Firstly, he’s an amazing human being and a great rugby player as well. He always gives 100 per cent effort and he’s really quick, and we know if we kick the ball in behind our opposition, he’s going to chase it to the best of his ability.

“He has really had an amazing tournament, just like the other 12 players as well; everybody played their part and I’m happy for each and every one of them.”

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Following their win, Powell admits the overriding emotion was relief after a couple of poor showings on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series circuit.

“I’m probably more relieved than anything else and really proud of the boys, they put in a massive effort – not only in the final against Fiji, but all six games over the weekend,” said Powell.

“It’s amazing to have won the gold medal again, like we did eight years ago in Glasgow, and especially after we finished fourth and didn’t win a medal at the previous Commonwealth Games in Australia, so there is a lot of emotions and the victory brought back memories of what happened in Glasgow in 2014.”

“The guys worked tirelessly on defence, sticking to our systems and putting in a massive effort, especially against the bigger opponents,” he said.

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“After the World Series tournament in London, we had to reset and re-evaluated our goals for the rest of the season and the last three tournaments, the Commonwealth Games, the Los Angeles Sevens and finally the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

“The guys really worked hard in the build-up to this tournament, and I’m glad they got rewarded for it, showing once again that although hard work doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, it’s part of success.

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R
RedWarriors 22 minutes ago
The Springbok selection experiment is far from over

SA won two world cups but since 1987 there have been major issues with the draw and scheduling.


Lets look at Scotland and England. Scotland were ranked #9 immediately after RWC 2019.

They were ranked #7 a few months after and by 2023 they were ranked #5 in the world.

England were ranked #3 after RWC 2019 but by 2023 were #7 a full 3 ranking points behind Scotland.

There are 4 Pools. Because World Rugby used rankings from 2019, England were ranked #1 in their pool in with Argentina and Japan and Scotland were ranked #3 in their pool in with South Africa and Ireland. The pools went as youd expect: Scotland were eliminated and England got through to a QF where they got to play Fiji and scraped through to a semi.

At the end of that tournament England were now a full 3 ranking points ahead of Scotland. This wasn’t due to better rugby. It was entirely due to the draw.

Now England are in #6, Scotland are in #7 and England are favourites to be #1 Pool seeds (6 pool) in 2027 and Scotland will end up as #2 seeds.

In effect Scotland are still reeling from the draw in 2023 which was based on the rankings in 2027.

Considering the amount of admirable effort, money etc that Scotland have put into improving this is an utterly unforgivable outcome from World Rugby.

This isnt new Draw disasters and scheduling bias has been going on since the start.

The ONLY reason it is being dealt with now is because NZ and SA were affected and the world could see how ridiculous it was having the QFs with opponents that should be in SFs, and having great teams like Scotland not even qualify from their Pool.


(I don’t have beef with SA beyond their (and the Kiwis) high proportion of arrogant, brash supporters (see abuse directed at me above) and in the case of the NZ team, lack of respect for other teams.)

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R
RedWarriors 44 minutes ago
The Springbok selection experiment is far from over

Everyone agreed that the draw was absurd. NZ and SA were the most vocal in criticism before the Pool stages, but then the narrative changed after their squeeked through the QFs.

The reason you had to play France and England was because you lost to Ireland.

The draw helped you in that you got to play France in a QF where none of their players had knock-out winning experience. You play England first and then France, and your task becomes significantly harder. If you are also scheduled to play #5 ranked Scotland the week before France then you lose.


I thought Ireland did rise for the NZ match. Inside a week after Scotland and with resultant fatigue and injury. NZ prepared for a year for that match including identifying a potential infringemnt in Porters scrummaging which yielded 4 penalties. The NZ scrum coach remarked that the ref spent every scrum looking at Porter and not at NZ front row. Kudos, thats clever.


The fact we got within one score and went out attacking in their 22 shows we were right up for it. Particularly given NZ were so much better than SA in the final (except for the red).


Hats off to SA. But the idea that SA are a match for the great NZ team of the 2010s is ludicrous. SA were not the best team in there pool in both 2029 and 2023. They are average in between world cups. They have lost in 4 out of 5 matches against one opponent. Sorry but there it is.


(Anyone can spot a troll, using personal abuse against a person’s opinion being a pretty reliable indicator.)

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