Sandile Ngcobo expressed his frustration with the Blitzboks’ uncharacteristic handling errors in a Cape Town Sevens pool finale defeat to Ireland.
The Blitzboks were taught a lesson in composure by Ireland, suffering their first loss of the season, but still doing enough to secure a place in the playoffs.
REPORT: Blitzboks slip up in Cape Town
“Congratulations to Ireland with the win – we had our chances and did not make the most of it,” said Ngcobo after the match on Saturday night.
“We became a bit loose in that game. We are best when we have ball in hand, but we made a number of errors where we gave possession away, which was something we didn’t do in the earlier games.
“Overall, I felt we did well and I don’t want to dwell too much on the mistakes made against Ireland. We will have a look and analyse on how we can do better in that area.”
South Africa will now face Australia in the quarter-final, at 11.18am on Sunday. The other quarter-finals are Argentina v Canada (10.34am), Ireland v New Zealand (10.56am) and Fiji v France (11.40am).
Ngcobo said Australia will be a tough opponent: “We played Australia in Dubai last weekend and that was a tough game, they are a very good outfit and we will need to be very organised tomorrow when we face them. The teams know each other well and it will be about who makes the right decisions and make that count in the match.”
The Blitzbok coach thanked the crowd that came in on Saturday and said they hope to see lots of spectators return on Sunday: “We are hoping for another good crowd, they were terrific today and their support gave the team a lot of energy. It would be great if we have another full day, that will help us in our push towards the title.”
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images