Proud Ngcobo praises Blitzboks’ effort

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Head coach Sandile Ngcobo applauded the Blitzboks for making it into the last four of the Sydney Sevens, where they will face Fiji in the semi-finals on Sunday.

The South Africans beat Uruguay (28-12) and New Zealand (17-14) in their Pool B matches before they knocked out Ireland with a 26-12 victory in the quarter-finals on Saturday to keep their title hopes alive.

The semi-final against Fiji will be at 7:28am on Sunday. New Zealand and France will contest the other semi-final.

It was a huge improvement for SA from last weekend in Hamilton, where the Blitzboks lost both matches in the knockout stages of the New Zealand Sevens. One of those defeats was against Ireland and for Ngcobo, their performance in Australia against the same opponent was personal.

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“Everybody agreed after Hamilton that we cannot be happy with those performances and that we needed to step up and represent the badge and all it stands for with everything we had,” he said.

“The guys did that today and I am very proud. The performances today were for everyone that contributed to this effort and also for the injured players, guys like Selvyn Davids who returned home, Siviwe Soyizwapi and Ryan Oosthuizen, who got injured here.

“This performance also represented the guys back home in Stellenbosch and it was pleasing to see the effort. I am very proud.”

Ngcobo said the way the players implemented their gameplan was exactly what the coaching staff asked of them: “We reminded them about the system and how that overrides any individual effort and we saw that out there.”

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The coach wanted a strong start against Ireland, which is exactly what he got as Christie Grobbelaar scored twice in the first five minutes to put the Blitzboks in control at 12-0.

“We wanted to score first and keep the pressure from there onwards and it worked out like that,” said Ngcobo.

“We have a very good mix in the squad currently and that helps in our execution. The senior players in the squad are very experienced and keep things together, while the younger players bring massive energy, and we got the rewards from that.

“I told the young guys to go out and play their game, that is why they were picked and they responded very well.”

With regards to Sunday’s clash against Fiji, Ngcobo said it will be important for the players to rest well and come back with the same mindset that highlighted their performances on Saturday.

Photo: @Blitzboks/Twitter

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