Paris sevens blitzboks

Siviwe Soyizwapi of South Africa carries the ball for a try against Wales during the USA Sevens Rugby tournament at Sam Boyd Stadium on March 2, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/Getty Images/AFP

Paris Sevens 2019: Blitzboks skipper eyes positive finish to difficult season

Having reflected on where things went wrong in London the Blitzboks skipper says his charges are ready to finish the season on a high note at the Paris Sevens.

Paris sevens blitzboks

Siviwe Soyizwapi of South Africa carries the ball for a try against Wales during the USA Sevens Rugby tournament at Sam Boyd Stadium on March 2, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/Getty Images/AFP

Blitzboks skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi says that his side want to finish a disappointing season on a high note at the Paris Sevens this weekend.

The Blitzboks ensured that they will finish in the top four of the World Sevens Series with a quarterfinal appearance in London last weekend. They fell out of contention for a title defense as Fiji moved to the top of the standings. A top four finish will grant the Blitzboks qualification to the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year.

“We would like to finish the season well,” said Soyizwapi.

“It was an up and down season for us. We had a lot of new players coming in, which impacted on our consistency, but crucially we managed to achieve our goal of a top four finish.”

The Blitzboks cannot defend their World Sevens Series title but they can at least look to retain the Paris Sevens bragging rights. Their epic win over England in last year’s final in the City of Love is still seen as one of the great performances of the Sevens Series and nothing would please Soyizwapi more if they can finish well again.

“We want to look back at our last tournament of the season as one we can proud of. We want to go out and do it for each other one more time,” he said.

The Blitzboks were given some homework by their coach, Neil Powell, this week. They had to analyse their performances in London and the captain said all benefitted from the exercise.

“It was part of the mental side of our preparation and added to the training sessions we had on the field. The three new guys came in nice and early, so we trained well with little disruptions,” Soyizwapi said.

The Blitzboks face Australia, Wales and Kenya in Pool B of the tournament on Saturday.