Their coach Neil Powell has since tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the Olympic men’s competition from July 26-28.
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South Africa’s rugby team for Tokyo Olympics, whose seven players tested positive for the virus started practice for the first time on Tuesday, SA Rugby said in a statement. All of the players have completed their quarantine period and were given clean chit to practice.
The Springbok Sevens are among the gold medal favourites. They were forced to isolate themselves on arrival in Japan because a passenger on the same plane tested positive. The players were suspected to be in close contact with the passenger.
Their coach Neil Powell has since tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the Olympic men’s competition from July 26-28.
But the rest of the squad have been cleared and trained at Shiranami Stadium in Kagoshima on Tuesday.
“We are very happy to be out here and breathing in fresh air after a week in our hotel rooms,” said Blitzboks captain Siviwe Soyizwapi after two separate isolation periods in Tokyo and Kagoshima.
“This session was supposed to be a low-key one in terms of intensity, but the guys could not help themselves and pushed things up a few notches.
“We decided to process negative news in a positive way and that is what we have done. As a group, it worked for us actually being isolated, as it brought a tight-knit group even closer. The squad players and management took a decision to always take the optimistic route and that certainly helped. The obstacles were different, but we overcame them in our minds already.”
Powell is isolating for 14 days, and will continue to help the side he has coached since 2013, albeit through a computer screen, and will liaise with assistant coach Renfred Dazel on match day.
South Africa won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and they will be among the favourites again. They are in Group C with the United States, Kenya and Ireland.
