Rio de Janeiro - The women’s Sevens tournament ended on Monday in Rio, paving the stage for the much anticipated main event; all the titans from the HSBC World Sevens Series locking horns one more time this season.
The Sevens’ has attracted plenty of interest from across the Olympic community, as it combines many of the virtues and ideals of the Games.
This is the code’s time to shine, and it is fair to say that almost every team has been itching to get on the park.
Well, almost every team. While their rivals have all been in the village, practising and soaking in the buzz of their compatriots’ successes in other codes, Fiji’s giants have been conspicuous by their conveniently belated arrival.
While South Africa, New Zealand and the like have slotted into their team villages, Fiji has been on a luxury resort on the South American coast.
The jaunt has come at a great personal cost to the one set of people that the Olympics is about - their fellow athletes. While the Sevens squad has been living it up, their tab has been picked up by a flock of individual stars who depend on state funding.
All of them saw their budgets cut by 40 percent this year, to ensure that the Sevens divas are pampered. Even if Fiji rise to the occasion, theirs may be the least celebrated triumph in the team village.
Their main rivals, the Kiwis and the South Africans, will be hoping to catch them napping.
“Our only focus is our opening match against Spain,” SA coach Neil Powell has maintained. “We are looking at nothing else beyond that.”
If all goes according to form, New Zealand should meet Fiji in the semi-finals, with South Africa likely to await the winner in the gold medal match.
On paper, that seems a logical assumption, but the beauty of Sevens lies in its unpredictability.
It is a tantalising prospect, with some massive names from the world of rugby here to lend their expertise .
Kiwi Sonny Bill Willams would dearly love to add Olympic gold to the Rugby World Cup medal he helped the All Blacks win last year.
But South Africa are just as keen to build on the Commonwealth fairytale from two years ago in Glasgow, and they look ready to go as long and as hard as it requires to get the job done.
It means an immense amount to a lot of people, and those ingredients look set to make for a perfect spectacle. The Deodoro Stadium, somewhat exposed to the elements, will also be testing, if the prevailing wind picks up again.
South Africa were one of a very small number of teams who practised in that bluster, and that experience may come in very handy if those conditions play out again.
South Africa, seeded second, and in Group B, open their account against Spain 4.30pm before clashing with France at 11:30pm. An afternoon match against Australia on Wednesday then completes the round-robins, with an evening quarter-final their expected reward.
Blitzbokke squad
Kyle Brown (captain), Tim Agaba, Philip Snyman, Werner Kok, Dylan Sage, Kwagga Smith, Rosko Specman, Cheslin Kolbe, Cecil Afrika, Justin Geduld, Juan de Jongh, Seabelo Senatla Travelling reserves: Chris Dry, Francois Hougaard
Independent Media