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'They came here as underdogs' - SA Rugby boss praises Blitzboks

The Blitzboks praying (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

SA Rugby President Mark Alexander has heaped praise the South African men’s sevens team for their resilience during the Olympic Games in Paris, where they secured a bronze medal.

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Alexander highlighted the team’s performance as an example of perseverance and determination, serving as an inspiration for all South Africans.

The Blitzboks bagged their bronze at the Stade de France when they beat Australia in the third place play-off after losing to Antoine Dupont’s France in the semi-final.

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To honour their achievement Alexander hosted the Blitzboks for a team lunch in France, expressing gratitude for their efforts and contributions to the sport. He acknowledged the challenges the team faced and praised their ability to overcome adversity after the side overcame a pretty poor showing in the group stages in Paris.

“They came here as underdogs and not many people gave them a chance,” said Alexander, “but they proved that the South African fighting spirit is alive and well in them. They made us proud with their efforts and we want to thank the team for that.”

“It will also be nice to have the team back in Cape Town in December when we host the HSBC SVNS tournament. I am sure the crowds will come out in numbers to support our bronze medallists,” he said.

Alexander also wished the team well as they prepared to return to South Africa later on Monday.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

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