adminJOHANNESBURG. — What began as a hopeful year for South African rugby ended in yet another depressingly familiar false dawn.
Not for the first time, hope had sprung eternal that the Lions would go one up on making the Super Rugby final last season by winning the title this year; the Blitzboks would carry their strong early season form and win the World Sevens Series; and the Springboks would improve from losing eight of their 12 games last year.
Neil Powell’s men held up their end of the bargain by making eight out of a possible 10 finals to win their second World Sevens Series championship, but the rest flunked.
In a year in which Springbok coach Allister Coetzee, complete with reinforced backroom staffers in the form of Brendan Venter and Franco Smith, felt he’d had enough time to prepare and fix the team’s culture, the Boks merely flattered to deceive. — City Press.
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