The Blitzbok speedster Muller du Plessis enjoys the added pleasure that the Rugby World Cup Sevens format offers, but he is also aware of how it increases the pressure.
The main event will begin with a knockout format and end with one on Sunday. It begins on Friday. You’re out if you lose a game. No second opportunities will be given.
Despite the fact that it is significantly different from the typical Sevens competitions, it adds to the already action-packed code, and Du Plessis is up for the challenge.
Du Plessis remarked, “It is clearly different from any previous competition we have participated in, but the wonderful thing is that it is new to all the teams.
There will be other differences between the World Cup weekend and the typical World Series legs in addition to the sudden-death format.
Teams will only get to run out four times to compete for the Melrose Cup, as opposed to six games, including the championship game.
Teams with seeding from ninth to 24th will compete against one another on Day 1 of the tournament in a qualifying round. The victorious teams will advance to the round of 16, where they will take against the top eight seeds. The defeated clubs will battle for positions 17 to 24 in the Bowl competition.
Germany or Chile will be the opponents for the Springbok Sevens team’s first match.
Du Plessis expressed his like of the format. “But I believe the spectators may have like to watch six games. We have one match on Friday, one on Saturday, and two on Sunday. Having two matches scheduled will be good, but we’ll be prepared.
“The fact that there are only four matches is, in my opinion, thrilling because it means you must give your best in those four matches. But it will need intense concentration—you can’t make errors and you can’t let anything go.”
The Blitzboks won the gold medal in the July Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but they came in 13th place at the World Series finals in Los Angeles.
That could seem that there is a lot of fine-tuning to do before the World Cup, but according to Du Plessis, they know precisely what has to be done.
The good news is that we know what went wrong and what went wrong during the Commonwealth Games. One was excellent, and one was a little worse, but it’s not a big deal; we know what to improve, Du Plessis said.
“We must work together as a team to carry out the strategy, and we must exert ourselves. Because it’s a new competition and taking place in Cape Town, the tension is considerably greater. That makes it much more crucial for the squad to become closer and play cohesively.”
The 2017 competition will be the first-ever Sevens World Cup on the continent and just the second Rugby World Cup ever to be staged in South Africa.
Given the SA team’s dominance, the host country will inevitably be under even more strain, and expectations will rise.
Du Plessis, though, emphasised the advantages of playing at home.
“I’m quite happy. You always wanted to play in a World Cup, and the fact that it was in South Africa made it much more desirable, he added.
“The emphasis, though, is on what my role on the team is. From the middle of the week to the opening game, I need to be aware of my area of concentration and approach it day by day.
“The presence of our family and friends will help to settle things down. However, my primary concern is the team and what I can do to help them.”