We knew it – when Seabelo Senatla is not playing, the Blitzboks are just not the same team. It first happened at the Rio Olympics, when a wrist injury in the last movement of the quarter-final saw Senatla ruled out of the semi against Great Britain.
The Springboks Sevens lost 7-5, wasting a number of chances that Senatla would’ve finished off easily. And then at the Cape Town Sevens this past weekend, Senatla took a knock to his thigh in the 33-0 quarter-final romp past Wales, and wasn’t fully fit against New Zealand in the last-four clash.
He still played, and the Blitzboks held on for a 14-7 win, but there was little chance of Senatla coming out for the final against England. It was still a tight game, but the 19-17 defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for the capacity crowd at Cape Town Stadium and the team themselves.
Senatla will hang up his sevens boots in two tournaments’ time, after Wellington and Sydney, to join the Stormers for Super Rugby in order to challenge for a place in the Springbok Test team next year.
Blitzbok coach Neil Powell has to find someone else to replace Senatla, and remove the natural over-reliance on their talisman. Kwagga Smith is also leaving sevens after Sydney, so his energetic impact off the bench will be missed too.
SA Sevens Academy coach Paul Delport – himself a former Blitzbok captain – believes that while Senatla is an extraordinary player, there is hope for the future.
Asked who he thinks is the next Senatla, Delport told Independent Media: “I must say, that’s a tough question as I think there isn’t another Sea. But at the moment, we are all quite excited for Siviwe Soyizwapi (former Southern Kings utility back) to get a proper run. He is a special, special player. He is not as quick as Sea, but no one in the world is.
“He’s got other attributes – he’s really good on defence, he has really good game sense as well. In the Academy side, we have used him as a sweeper and flyhalf as well.
“We also have Mfundo Ndhlovu from the Sharks, who was with us now in Dubai, and he played in that Youth Commonwealth Games last year when we won the gold. He is also someone to watch, very, very quick. Nice and physical, nice skills.
“Shakes (Soyizwapi) has joined us full-time, and we are trying to do a tri-part agreement with Mfundo now in the new year.”
Former top scrumhalf Delport represented the Cats in Super Rugby and was captain of the SA Schools team. He also led the SA Under-19s to a world title in 2003 and was part of the SA Under-21 side that clinched a world crown two years later. His sevens career was ended at the age of 30 in 2013 due to injury, but he has involved in coaching since.
He fully understands the effectiveness of sevens to sharpen a rugby player’s game, and feels that someone else will come through to take over from Senatla.
“Sea is irreplaceable. That guy is absolutely… I played with Fabian (Juries) and all the guys, and there has literally never been someone like Seabelo ever. Fabian was very different to Sea. Just look at Sea’s all-round game – his defence, the way he competes at the breakdown. Just in terms of that explosive speed…
“I played for a long time, I have never seen anything like that, ever. Even when Bryan (Habana) was at his best, Bryan didn’t come close to Seabelo. He is very, very special,” Delport said.
“It’s going to be the challenge for us to find the next guy, but also for the guys who are coming in to fill Sea’s place. The biggest thing is that they mustn’t try and be the next Seabelo Senatla – they must try and be Siviwe Soyizwapi or Mfundo Ndhlovu. They will bring their own attributes.”
In terms of a replacement for the hard-running Smith, Delport mentions star SA Under-20 loose forward Zain Davids as one of the possibilities. “Zain Davids played for us now in Dubai, and he did phenomenally well. He is a great talent.
“We’ve also got Impi Visser, we picked him up from the inter-provincial tournament from the Bulls who did very well. And Ryan Oosthuizen from Western Province has been great – such a hard worker and really quick learner. All three of them, in fact.
“We’ve got Zain for the season, I think. He is still contracted to the Stormers, but he is on loan to us for the season. It’s an ideal time for him to play sevens and build his skill-set, as he is just 19 years old and can still play SA Under-20 next year.”
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