Sandile Ngcobo says the SA Rugby chiefs are hard at work to recruit some reinforcements as the Blitzboks are struggling with an injury crisis. DYLAN JACK reports.
Ngcobo was speaking during a wide-ranging briefing on all the major South African national rugby teams, including the Springboks, Springbok Women, Blitzboks and Junior Springboks, in Stellenbosch on Wednesday.
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The Blitzboks are coming off two poor tournaments in Los Angeles and Vancouver during the North American leg of the Sevens Series, where they collected just 13 log points from a potential 44. South Africa has consequently dropped from second down to seventh place on the Sevens Series table, with four tournaments left in the 2023 campaign.
The results have put Ngcobo, in his first season as head coach after succeeding Neil Powell, under fire, despite the Blitzboks claiming a tournament win in Dubai and silver medal in Sydney.
When opening the briefing, Ngcobo confirmed that the end goal was still to take the Blitzboks to a top four finish, which would see the team qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, but placed some of the recent poor finishes into context.
“We are not an excuse team,” Ngcobo said. “But to give a bit of context, we are faced with 15 injuries. Ten of those are senior players, the other five are junior players who are still coming back from injuries.
“It is extremely difficult to build momentum or carry on with your momentum and reach your goals without those key players. Still a big thanks to Rassie, Uncle Charles [Wessels] our General Manager and Marius Schoeman for helping us with the process of getting players released and headhunting players who will make a difference in our system.”
Among the wounded Blitzboks are a plethora of experienced playmakers, including Shaun Williams, Dewald Human, Selvyn Davids and Justin Gelduld, while Ronald Brown picked up a knock in Vancouver.
“I’m praying that I get all four back,” Ngcobo said. “Shaun Williams shouldn’t be too far off. He’s about two weeks away. Dewald Human and Selvyn Davids will be available for the last two legs in Paris and London. Justin tweaked his groin again, so that was a bit of a setback.
“It makes one hell of a difference having those guys around. It’s between six and eight tries per player.”
SA Rugby general manager Wessels confirmed that three players – unable to be specified at the time – would be joining the squad on Monday, while negotiations are ongoing with a couple of the provinces to bring more players in.
Part of the problem, Ngcobo said, was that all competitions, from the junior cups to the Currie Cup and Vodacom United Rugby Championship, are all taking place at the same time, making it difficult for any of the unions and franchises to make players available.
“The challenge is that everyone is in competition. The U19s, U20s, the URC sides, we are all in competition. Everyone wants to do well. So it’s a process. That’s why we have Rassie, Charles and Marius working behind the scenes to try and get us a JC Pretorius back, or a Yaw Penxe, a Rosko Specman. Just to help us with some sort of experience so it doesn’t take that long to bring them in and develop them. We need a solution for right now, until our injuries are alright.”
This has placed the Sevens Academy under pressure, as the younger players are fast tracked into the Blitzboks squad.
“It takes about four to six academy tournaments to develop a player,” Ngcobo said. “That’s almost a year. Due to Covid, we had no competitions and we couldn’t compete overseas. The turnaround needed to develop a player now is one month, which really isn’t enough.”
Photo: Twitter: @Blitzboks