Africa-Press – South-Africa. Blitzbok coach Sandile Ngcobo was not too stressed about his side’s slow start following South Africa’s opening win against Uruguay in Hong Kong Sevens on Friday.
The Springbok Sevens squad sealed a 21-0 win against the newcomers in their opening Pool B fixture.
South Africa now look to top their pool on Saturday, when they will face Great Britain and France.
Ngcobo, who sealed his first victory as the new Blitzboks coach, says that his side look to be better and improve in the first event of the World Rugby Sevens Series.
“There were some nerves, the ball was quite greasy and the guys were sweating as well, so that all contributed to the slow start,” said Ngcobo.
“We will take that to heart and see where we can improve. It was the win we wanted as we are only preparing for the next game, so the focus was on Uruguay and beating them. We created enough opportunities, but did not finish all of them, so we will look at ourselves on how we can do better and come back strongly.
“We have our minds set on winning our pool, and we can go to work on that tomorrow in the two remaining pool games.”
Blitzbok playmaker Ronald Brown, who scored 11 of the 21 points on Friday, said their attack needs to be sharper is confident that some analysis overnight will solve any issues.
“The ball was a bit wet and that had an impact I suppose, but I did feel we were not as sharp as we could be when we had the ball,” said Brown, adding that he was very happy to hear that he could play on the weekend after a Covid-19 test earlier in the week came back inconclusive.
“Waiting on the result was a bit troubling, but I am just happy that I was cleared to play and could be on the field with the rest of the guys. I was blessed that I could go out and play and do what I love, and I am very grateful for that.”
Brown had an unfortunate moment where he lost the ball behind the opposition’s tryline, but he soon rebounded with a well-taken try, and he could smile about it afterwards.
“Hopefully, the coaches won’t be too hard on me because of that, as the ball was really slippery.”
The Blitzboks face Great Britain at 07:10 SA time and then battle against France at 11:05 SA time.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
