'There is literally no excuse': Soyizwapi tasked with lifting Blitzboks after World Cup QF blunder

Springbok Sevens captain Siviwe Soyizwapi kept his emotions in check as he reflected on an unexpected quarter-final defeat to Ireland at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.

Their opponents Ireland pressured the Blitzboks into multiple errors which took away their ascendency, putting paid to the plan they had in place for the weekend. It resulted in a 24-14 loss for South Africa. 

The 22:33 kick-off time attracted many spectators at the Cape Town Stadium, but as Ireland scored try after try, one could hear a pin drop as the crowd observed in silence an error-strewn showing from the hosts.

For the second game running, Soyizwapi was deployed to the field from the replacement bench, but by the time he stepped onto the field, the damage from Ireland had already been done and the hosts were haemorrhaging at a rate of knots.

After being deadlocked at 7-7 at half-time, Ireland raced to a 19-7 lead on 12 minutes. Two minutes later and it was 24-7.

The always accurate Soyizwapi said their plan was upended by their error rate. 

"The game plan was to do the basics well because it was greasy out there, the ball was wet and it was slippery underfoot so the plan was to play test rugby... play in their half and take control in their half," he said after the game.

"We had good play in their half, but we lost a few lineouts and they played from those mistakes."

The Irish were on the board in the third minute and from there, applied the pressure on a South African team that looked off the mark.

Lineouts were not functioning, passes were not sticking and they did not give the impression they could win the game.

"We never started the way we wanted to and the stage we're playing at (knockout stage), you can’t make as many errors as we did; Ireland