Cape Town - The Blitzboks may have arguably the best draw for the Rio Olympics, but coach Neil Powell has warned his team that there will be “no easy games” in Brazil.
The Springbok Sevens team had a favourable draw that was conducted in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, as they will face Australia, France and Spain in Pool B.
The most competitive group will be Pool C, where New Zealand will contend with Kenya, Great Britain (combined England, Scotland and Wales) and Japan, while Pool A sees World Sevens Series champions Fiji facing the Americas (USA, Argentina and hosts Brazil).
The top two teams from the three pools, plus the two best third-placed sides will qualify for the quarter-finals, with the pool games starting on August 9.
“I am pleased with our pool, but the reality is that you will have to respect every opponent, play every game at your best and use your opportunities,” Powell said on Wednesday.
“There will be no easy games and there are no easy pools. Even Brazil, who are seeded 12th, will be a very tough nut to crack as they will be playing in front of their home crowd. We need to prepare well because the other pools are also very competitive.
“As a team, we don’t look too far ahead. We will focus on our first match on Day One, hoping to do well and to build from there.”
The Blitzboks will begin their final countdown to Rio at their Stellenbosch base on Friday in an international sevens invitational at the Markotter fields. The action begins at noon when they take on Western Province, with teams from Zimbabwe and Namibia also involved.
It is the last chance for the 19-man Blitzbok Olympic training squad to state their case for a place in the group of 12 that will travel to Rio.
The likes of record Springbok try-scorer Bryan Habana, No 8 Ryan Kankowski, Rosko Specman and Tim Agaba will have to pull out all the stops over the next few weeks to impress Powell and make the cut in mid-July.
Day 1 Fixtures (Friday)
12:00: Western Province v Blitzboks
12:22: WP Invitational v Namibia Invitational
13:16: WP v Zimbabwe
13:38: WP Invitational v Living Academy
14:22: Blitzboks v Zimbabwe
14:44: Living Academy v Namibia Invitational
15:28: WP v Blitzboks
15:50: WP Invitational v Namibia Invitational
16:34: WP v Zimbabwe
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@ashfakmohamed / @IndyCapeSport
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