Blitzboks coach happy with team's efforts at Hong Kong Sevens: 'We made a massive step up'

Springbok Sevens coach Sandile Ngcobo was chuffed with his team's efforts at the past weekend's Hong Kong Sevens.

The Blitzboks finished sixth in Hong Kong to climb two spots in the World Rugby Sevens Series standings.

They are now fifth on the standings with three tournaments remaining in the 2022/23 season. The four leading teams at the end of the season will gain automatic qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

The Blitzboks lost three vital games in Hong Kong (12-7 to New Zealand in pool play, 10-7 to Fiji in the Cup quarter-finals, and 7-5 to Argentina in the fifth-place playoff) but it was an improved performance for the South Africans since the Canada Sevens, where they finished a lowly 13th. 

"I really think we made a massive step up," Ngcobo said in a statement. "Of course, we are disappointed, as we know we're a better team (than sixth), but we'll hold our heads high and go back to zero on Monday so we can prepare accordingly and hit Singapore hard. 

"In terms of our efforts this [past] weekend, I'm really pleased. As a group, we are very hard on ourselves, but we planned well, had a good week leading up to the tournament, and we started in a manner that gave us momentum. 

"We defended really well and forced teams to make hard decisions against us by eliminating their attacking opportunities. We can even be more selfish in keeping teams out - instead of conceding two tries, we must aim to only concede one, or better still, nothing at all.  

"If we can get our tackle completion rate up to 85 percent, then we'll know we're on the right path and I believe we made a massive step up defensively. 

"From an attacking point of view, we managed to keep the ball, create opportunities, and we scored some beautiful