The Springboks left lasting memories at the Stade de France last year in winning the Rugby World Cup, breaking French hearts along the way. Now, at the Paris 2024 Olympics, they get the chance to do so again.
Team SA’s men’s sevens rugby heroes saw off New Zealand 14-7 at a bouncing Stade de France on Thursday night to book a place in the semi-finals that had looked unlikely just 24 hours earlier. On day one of the competition, South Africa had lost to both Ireland and New Zealand. On day two they routed Japan and then were full of character in seeing off the Kiwis.
France now lie in wait, after running up a 21-7 win over Argentina. The other semi-final will see Fiji take on Australia. Whatever the case, Team SA will be playing for a medal on Saturday.
Coach Philip Snyman knows what it’s like to win an Olympic medal, havign been part of the squad that earned the bronze medal at Rio 2016. However, he will want his troops to go further,
“When the guys made it through to the quarter-finals, I said to them. ’gents, you must start believing’. Yesterday things didn’t go our way but you must truly believe.’ Our defence had been good but we couldn’t get the ball back.
“Tonight our defence system worked well and when we had ball in hand we capitalised. We even left one or two tries out there. It was still not a perfect performance, but the guys fought for the system, they fought for the jersey and they fought for the country. I’m really proud of them and they deserve to be in the semi-finals.”
Photo: Roger Sedres/Team SA
SOURCED FROM SASCOC WEBSITE.
