After playing in 66 tournaments and having reached the age of 31, it wouldn’t be a total surprise if Kyle Brown decided to hang up his Blitzboks boots at the end of the current World Sevens Series.
He’s won series titles, became an Olympic bronze medallist, and clinched Commonwealth Games gold. And overcome some major injuries.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics may be a bridge too far for the hard-working former loose forward, but Brown still has a major role in bringing through the next generation of Springbok Sevens stars this season.
Apart from that, though, playing in the Cape Town Sevens is always a special experience for the Blitzboks, and especially for those who hail from the Mother City, like Brown.
What will make him and the team even more determined at the Cape Town Stadium this weekend is the fact that they want to rectify their mistakes from the Dubai Sevens, where they lost to England in the Cup quarter-finals.
They take on Samoa, whom they faced in pool action last week too, first up on Saturday (12.27pm), before they encounter Zimbabwe (3.48pm) and New Zealand (7.56pm).
Asked about the challenge of the All Black Sevens, who were the Dubai champions, Brown told IOL Sport: “I think we just need to focus on that first game. That’s probably the most important game for us.
“Facing Samoa, we need to make sure we hit the ground running – they’re incredibly physical, they’re well-skilled and like to take the ball from touchline to touchline.
“We played them last week, and they’re a good, good team. We need to go out there and be tactically sound, and implement the strategy that Coach Neil (Powell) puts in place.”
Brown and the rest of the Blitzboks side will hope that the home fans can help them lift their performance as well.
“Always good to be back here. Just take a look around you here today – the vibe is strong and people are really excited for the weekend,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to getting out on the field this weekend and progressing nicely from last weekend.
Kyle Brown speaks about the Blitzboks at the Cape Town Sevens. Video: Ashfak Mohamed
“We’ve got to be honest about where we are right now, in terms of combinations. There are a couple of new faces in the squad (in Dubai)... Start of the season – things happen like that, you know.
“We’ve got a long season ahead of us; we’ve got nine tournaments, all the way to the end of May. We’ve got a few small details to fix this weekend, and we hope to make the South African public proud.”
@ashfakmohamed
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