South Africa has been the most consistent team over the past six years, recording 2^nd place World Sevens Series finishes in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 before their spectacular title wins in 2017 and 2018, which is why it is strange to see the Blitzboks at 4^th in the current standings.

Last year’s champions’ best finish so far in the HSBC Sevens World Series is Bronze in Cape Town—a concern in an Olympic qualification year, where the top four teams will automatically travel to Japan in 2020.

Let’s compare two teams, South Africa and the United States, at this exact point last year.

2018 Series (After 4 Rounds)

South Africa: Played 24  Won 21  Lost 3 — 1st in Standings

USA: Played 24  Won 11  Lost 12  Tied 1 — 8th in Standings

2019 Series (After 4 Rounds)

South Africa: Played 24  Won 15  Lost 9 — 4th in Standings 

USA: Played 24  Won 19  Lost 5 — 1st in Standings

This time in 2018, South Africa had lost just three games, claiming Gold, Bronze, and two Silvers. To put that into perspective, this season the Blitzboks dropped three matches in the very first tournament in Dubai. 

One of those was a rare pool loss to Argentina. The effect of this escalated into the next pool draw, which saw South Africa go down against New Zealand in Round 2. This home tournament was actually their best performance of the season, losing a cliffhanger to Fiji, but getting revenge of New Zealand in the Bronze Medal match. Round 3 in Hamilton the Blitzboks went 3-0 on day one, a first this season, colliding again with Fiji in the semifinals. 

In Sydney it was the home side that shocked South Africa in the pool rounds. England then defeated the Blitzboks in a convincing Cup quarterfinal victory.

What happened in the space of 12 months?

It’s All About Depth

For South Africa, it seems that that squad depth is the main issue; losing legendary sevens players to Super Rugby like Ruhan Nel, Dylan Sage, Seabelo Senatla, Kwagga Smith, and Rosko Specman (who scored two brilliant tries in his debut for the Blue Bulls) has hurt. They will also miss Stedman Gans, who now joins the Blue Bulls franchise. Add to that, injuries to captain Philip Snyman (pictured below) and some of their playmakers not being available for all of the first four tournaments.

The Sevens World Series allows players to improve their abilities on both sides of the ball, in very difficult situations. Attacking and defensive skills are put under a microscope with so much additional space on the field. Countries like New Zealand and South Africa have used the sevens game to develop young stars that transition to international 15s. Since 1999, a total of 35 Blitzboks have represented the Springboks, with Cheslin Kolbe (2018) the latest.

Neil Powell—who won the HSBC Sevens World Series as a player in 2008-2009—took over the Blitzboks head coach position in 2013, bringing valuable experience to the role that has translated in the creation of a world-class program. Powell (below with ball during training) became the first person to win the Sevens World Series as a player and twice as a coach—this achievement is legendary.

Sevens World Series Standings, focusing on South Africa’s results under Neil Powell

Experience Is Key

The South African Sevens Academy, setup in 2012, is based 30 minutes outside of Cape Town—alongside the largest rugby club in the world, Stellenbosch. Former Blitzbok star Marius Schoeman heads up this program to develop the next layer of players; usually teams slowly merge their new players throughout the season, but with so many stars missing, it’s been a difficult year for Powell’s charges.

This year, seven players—JC Pretorius, Impi Visser, Dewald Human, Selvyn Davids, James Murphy, Mfundo Ndhlovu, and Muller du Plessis—have played for the Blitzboks with fewer than ten tournaments under their belts. Even with such a high player turnover, South Africa does have plenty of young talent coming through, including forwards Zain Davids (below), Ryan Oosthuizen and Heino Bezuidenhout.

The hallmark of South Africa has been their suffocating defense. That physicality is lacking this season – and it’s uncharacteristic to see so many missed tackles or points scored against the Blitzboks. It will be very interesting to see how the rest of the Series goes for the defending champions.

USA In Same Boat?

In my opinion the United States also has a serious depth issue. 

At the surface one might not expect that, given the fantastic level of play we have witnessed this season. The starting seven is world class, but Head Coach Mike Friday has to play his front-line stars too often in tournaments. I believe this is one of the reasons for the disappointing level of play in the four cup finals. The players seem fatigued; those five brilliant performances leading to that last game take their toll. Teams like Fiji and New Zealand often improve their standard of play when their reserves take the field in the second half; I am not so sure that’s the case with the USA.

Certain teams match up well against each other; for example, New Zealand plays extremely well against Fiji. England has had the better of South Africa in recent times, including the Sevens World Cup and Olympic Games (as Great Britain). 

It’s extremely exciting to see the USA defeat everyone in their path, only losing to two teams this season: Fiji (1-2) and New Zealand (2-3). They are unbeaten against England (3-0), but, interestingly, have not faced South Africa.

Who do I support when South Africa and USA battle each other? Always the underdog. 

Weirdly those underdogs are the current defending World Series champions!

Dallen Stanford is a World Rugby commentator on the HSBC Sevens World Series, having played for the USA 7s Eagles from 2007-2009. He called the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, and will be in the booth this season for the Americas Rugby Championship, World Rugby u20 Championship, Major League Rugby as well as the Las Vegas, Vancouver, Singapore 7s. Follow him @TheRugbyCorner on Instagram & Twitter.