The silver medal-winning SA Under-17 Sevens team were praised by coach Sandile Ngcobo for fighting spirit in their final two matches as they clinched a first medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar on Monday evening.
The SA U17s – who won all three their pool games on Sunday – trailed 12-0 in their semi-final against Argentina, before coming back to win 24-12 to reach the final.
In the gold medal match, France – who won their semi-final against Canada by 58-0 – raced into a 21-5 lead at the break, but the South Africans fought back to make it 21-19 with a minute to play, before a late try sealed the 26-19 win and the gold medal for the European team.
This was South Africa’s first medal at the Youth Olympics. In 2018, they finished fourth, while the competition was not held in 2022.
“It’s a massive achievement if you look at where we started a couple of months ago to where we finished today, with the boys needing to convert from 15s to sevens rugby,” said Ngcobo.
“We had our moments in the final and left it just a little bit too late, which was the story of our day.
“Argentina and France have been building towards this competition for the last two years, while we came close with just a couple of weeks’ preparation and had exams to contend with. Our players also play very little sevens rugby and had to make a big step up in that regard – which made me even more proud of their effort.”
Ngcobo said the fighting spirit showed by the players in their two matches on Monday was great to see.
“We obviously didn’t want to start like that, but the boys showed so much character in coming back in both games,” he said.
“The tries we conceded in the final were from errors on our side; the French didn’t actually have to work hard for it. So, if we just minimized those, we would have been in the game.”
Ngcobo also praised the Springbok Sevens team for their role in assisting with the team’s preparation for their trip to Senegal.
“The Blitzboks set a high standard, and we look up to them,” he said.
“They helped us prepare as well, and the boys wanted to leave the jersey in a better place for the next generation. So, the next group that comes in in a few years’ time, will hopefully have somewhere to look up to and take one step up on the podium.”
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