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'We lost to ourselves': Blitzboks veteran on 38-0 final defeat to New Zealand
By Ben Smith
Experienced Blitzboks veteran Zain Davids put his side's 38-0 loss in the men's final of the Sydney 7s Series to New Zealand down to his own side's lack of execution.
The All Blacks Sevens ran riot putting up six tries in the rematch after South Africa had taken a 17-14 win in the pool stages.
New Zealand men's side claimed their first gold place finish of the Series after an agonising defeat in the final in Hamilton to Argentina.
However, the 25-year-old with over 150 appearances on the World Sevens circuit said the Blitzboks simply did not follow the game plan and were mentally absent from the final.
"The injuries sustained during the tournament was unfortunate, but not an excuse," Davids said.
"We lost to ourselves. We did not pitch up mentally or physically for the final, nor did we follow the game plan we had.
"That is frustrating, to be honest. Yes, we played five good games, but when it mattered, we let ourselves down.
"We knew what New Zealand would bring, but somehow we did not respond to their challenge the way I know we can."
"We did a lot of things right this weekend, but we also made telling mistakes.
"That gives us something to aim for when we get back home, to go and fix those things and make it better. We have our goals as a team, and we will have to make sure we all align to those next time we play."
South Africa's Sevens side were looking for their second gold of the Series after coming away with the win in the Dubai leg of the circuit and will look to rebound in Los Angeles.
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Smith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
Go to commentsWhich Australian coaches would be acceptable to coach the All Blacks ?
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