Blitzboks stalwart Siviwe Soyizwapi enjoyed his first outing back on the pitch on Day 1 of the Singapore Sevens after a long injury layoff.
Soyizwapi has recovered from a knee injury that ruled him out for the first five months of the series, and helped the Springbok Sevens team to victories over Spain and Samoa to end day unbeaten.
“You will always feel nervous coming back after eight months on the sidelines. As soon as I made that first contact it was all guns blazing from there,” Soyizwapi said.
“I really enjoyed it today and just taking in each and every moment.
“Coming into the tournament we set a goal for ourselves to focus on that first game and do well there and take the next one as it comes.
“We are on the right track at the moment and it’s always nice to wrap up Day 1 with two from two.”
How good was it to see @ShakeyMILKSHAKE back on the field for the #Blitzboks today? 🤩#PoweredByUnity #HSBCSVNS pic.twitter.com/bGnX34R0kp
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) May 3, 2024
The Blitzboks now face France in their final pool match, hoping to win the match and top their pool going into the quarter-finals.
“France played well today. They did well in the last tournament and I think they have got good momentum coming into this match as well.
“We will have to go back and work on a few things. Our game wasn’t perfect even though we went two from two. We have to analyse the French and come back first thing tomorrow morning.”
Meanwhile the Springboks Women’s Sevens team produced a mixed bag on Friday.
They beat the United States 14-12 with one of their best ever performances, but were hammered by France 49-0 in their second pool match.
Assistant coach Cecil Africa says the Women’s Boks need to find that consistency ahead of their crucial pool match against Japan on Saturday morning.
“We played well in the first game, but the second game was very, very poor and not up to our standard.
Last play, five points down and this happens 🤯
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) May 3, 2024
Unbelievable scenes for the @Blitzboks 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦#HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSSGP pic.twitter.com/hBtK96Eiuy
“Upfront they dominated us physically ... at the breakdowns and carrying the ball into contact. This is one area that we need to make a massive step up.
“Against the United States they were clinical and executed the plan well. We gained a lot of confidence in that game, but maybe we were complacent as a team against France.
“We really need to work hard to make sure that we can be better. We let the jersey down, and hopefully we can reset and come tomorrow against Japan and give a better effort.”
@JohnGoliath