Despite their third-place finish in Vancouver on Sunday — the sixth leg of the 2017-18 HSBC World Sevens Series — the Blitzboks are clinging to the top of the overall standings. Olympic champions Fiji have closed the gap to eight points with four rounds of the series to play after winning in Vancouver‚ but Neil Powell’s team proved their fighting qualities. The Blitzboks were ousted by Fiji (15-12) in the Vancouver semis but rallied to thrash the US — winners in Las Vegas the previous week — 29-7 to take the bronze medal. SA were fourth in Vegas. Though Powell had set the target of reaching the finals in both Las Vegas and Vancouver‚ it was always a lofty ambition considering his side went to North America without six seasoned veterans. They also lost the experienced Werner Kok on day one in Nevada and Ruhan Nel on the first day in British Columbia and were forced to blood several youngsters in the past fortnight. The fact that they reached the semis both weekends was a sign that th...
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