“The Underdog Tag Suits the Team”: Springbok Sevens Prepared for Paris 2024 Assault
- The Springboks Sevens are bracing for a testing tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics from 24 to 30 July
- The Blitzboks qualified for the Games as the 12th and last team at the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco in June
- The side won Bronze at the 2016 Rio Games in Brazil, following Rugby Sevens' debut as an Olympic sport
- Blitzboks media manager JJ Harmse told Briefly News that Selvyn Davids would don the captain's armband in Paris
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The Springbok Sevens will not be favourites to win the rugby tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics, but they can draw inspiration from their experience on other big stages.
The green and gold had to put in a monumental effort to qualify for the showpiece by overcoming Great Britain 14-5 at the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco three weeks ago.
Blitzboks amped for Paris 2024
The result secured a last berth on the 12-team roster for Paris, culminating in another heart-stopping moment for local rugby fans.
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With that out of the way and the attention now squarely on the Blitzboks' upcoming prospects, SA Rugby named six previous Olympians in a 14-man squad to do business at the Games.
That included Rio 2016 bronze medalist Rosko Specman, as well as Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown, Impi Visser, Zain Davids, and Siviwe Soyizwapi.
Well-versed in big tournament prowess, the six men were part of the squad that placed fifth in 2021 in Tokyo.
In an exclusive interview with Briefly News, Bok Sevens media manager JJ Harmse said Davids would retain captaincy duties at the tournament.
"He will be well supported by former captain Siviwe Soyizwapi, who missed six of the first eight HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series due to injury [before] easing back to be fit and ready for the Olympics," he told Briefly News.
The Blitzboks missed out on automatic qualification for Paris 2024 last season after bowing out with their worst result in the Sevens Series.
Harmse downplayed that the subsequent rut, which saw the side needing to clinch the repechage final for a berth in France, could be a telling factor in the team's overall chances of a podium finish.
"In the turnaround since [former captain] Philip Snyman took over [from Sandile Ngcobo, who returned to academy coaching], they managed to beat every team on the circuit, though consistency was still an issue.
"Snyman feels the defence is now sorted, and everybody understands their role in that system. He is not worried about the attack, as we have proved lethal with ball in hand in many tournaments."
He said Snyman, who took over the coaching reins on an interim basis in March, was confident that his troops could surprise the naysayers and pull one out of the bag to secure an Olympic medal, given the experience in the side.
"The underdog tag suits the team. We will go under the radar, with France, Argentina, New Zealand and Fiji as the headliners. It is much like the Commonwealth Games 2022, where we were not among the favourites.
"The pressure will be on the other teams; we will only focus on ourselves and what we want to achieve. Given our general performance in 2024, a medal of any colour will give meaning to our season."
At the Commonwealth Games in which Harmse conceded went in as the underdogs, the team won the gold medal when they produced a brilliant performance to defeat Fiji 31-7 in a pulsating final in Birmingham in the UK in July 2022.
Harmse said this bit of history would accompany the Blitzbokke to Paris, a side hopeful of putting past setbacks behind them.
There, the experience and contributions of one of their senior players in Specma in what is likely his last Olympics outing, although, for the timebeSpecman's remains only conjecture.
"[It is] most likely [his final Olympics]. But he is still in good shape, and looks well after his body. He will play [for] as long as he feels he is competitive," Harmse said.
The men's and women's rugby sevens tournaments at the Olympics, with 12 teams apiece, are scheduled to run from 24 to 30 July at Stade de France.
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Source: Briefly News
