While New Zealand burgled their way to the Sydney Sevens title, South Africa had to settle for fourth after losing to Fiji in the play off. The Blitzboks cruised through the group stages beating Scotland 33-7, Russia 40-0 and Kenya 26-17. A 26-0 victory over Argentina followed in the quarterfinals before South Africa eventually met their match in the semi-finals, losing 12-7 to Australia and setting up a third-place play off with old foes Fiji, who beat them 26-12.

Despite stuttering toward the end, South Africa remain tied on 69 points at the top of the World Series Sevens log with Fiji and New Zealand as the circuit takes a month-long break before shifting to Las Vegas in March.

South Africa will face USA, Wales and Canada in the group stages of that tournament, but if their performance over the last two weekends is anything to go by, they shouldn’t have anything to worry about. The Blitzboks have begun to show that that they have plenty of depth to cover when their star players are out. With a core group likely to return from injury in Las Vegas, they should set their sights on the trophy when they venture across the Atlantic.

There is plenty of time for South Africa to prepare and move on from a few issues of the last two weekends, but they will not be the only side left wondering about officiating on the Sevens Circuit. The Oceania leg of the Sevens Series has been marred with officiating controversy and the Sydney Sevens was no different. Last weekend, South Africa was victims of some dubious refereeing while this weekend dished up the curious case of what has been dubbed on Twitter as the “New Zealand Eights”. The All Blacks appeared to have eight players on the field when they scored a post-siren try to snatch a draw against Australia in the group stages.

World Rugby has opened an “investigation” into the matter and the All Blacks could face disciplinary action if they are found to have bungled their player count.

Australian coach Andy Friend believed that it was simply an innocent mistake, but it once again raises the question over the quality of officiating in the Sevens format.

“When they came off, our boys they said they couldn’t understand how they had the numbers out there. What we have to make sure is that those simple mistakes don’t happen in a big tournament,” Friend said.

Sevens officiating certainly needs some introspection, but so do the Blitzboks and coach Neill Powell, who didn’t shy away from admitting that a few basic errors, especially on defence, hurt his side in Sydney.

“We must learn that those kinds of basic errors will always hurt you in knockout matches,” explained Powell.

But there were plenty of positives, especially that they have strength in depth. For this round, South Africa lost stand-in skipper Philip Snyman, who was injured in the first group match on Saturday against Scotland while Kwagga Smith was suspended in the semi-final against Australia. These injuries and yellow cards forced the coach to field a few inexperienced players which he believes was a valuable “learning experience” for his charges.

Even more encouragingly, the Blitzboks look like a completely different team to the one which scraped into the final eight and eventually won the Cape Town leg of the tournament last year. While their defence and discipline has still been sketchy in parts, the puzzle pieces are starting to slot into place.

One of the puzzle pieces central to that improvement has been Seabelo Senatla. Named in the Sydney Sevens “Dream Team” and topping the try-scoring list with 25 tries, the fleet-footed winger’s continued rise has been central to South Africa’s consistency. It seems almost unfathomable that he is only turning 23 in just a few days because it feels like Senatla has been playing rugby for decades and he looks like he has, too. Since first making his debut in 2013, he has in a way played second-fiddle to Cecil Afrika, but in the last 12 months, he has developed into a household name in his own right. South Africa will be thanking their lucky stars that the speedster did not pursue a career in soccer or athletics like he had wanted to. He is also evidence that the Sevens system works for its players, despite criticism from some corners that the introduction of non-Sevens specialists is keeping other regulars out of the squad. In fact, with so many injuries, the presence of players like Juan de Jongh and Francois Hougaard has actually proved to be a bonus for South Africa, but that does not mean anyone’s spot is guaranteed.

“It’s always difficult to come from 15s to sevens then from sevens to 15s but my task has been made easy by guys like Frankie Horne, Kyle Brown and Philip Snyman, experienced guys who don’t have to help you get into the squad,” de Jongh said last weekend.

Hougaard shared the same sentiments, saying: “We have a saying in our team that says ‘you can beat the individual but you can never beat the system’ which means you’re always going to get beaten as an individual – you can be the fastest guy on the field [but] some other time you’re going to make a mistake – that’s when our system covers up for it. We’re all about hard work and working for each other.”

The Sevens season will end in London in May and by then, the Rio squad should have pretty much picked itself. It’s far too early to hype up South Africa’s golden boys – who were triumphant at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 – but if Senatla can stay fit for Rio and some of South Africa’s stalwarts like Werner Kok, Frankie Horne Branco du Preez, Kyle Brown and Cecil Afrika return, there is no reason they should not start dreaming about winning Olympic Gold. DM

Photo: Seabelo Senatla of South Africa dives to score a try against New Zealand during the gold medal match of the Rugby Sevens at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, July 27, 2014. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne.