South Africa created a slice of history at the rugby sevens last night as they became the first side to ever beat New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.
The Springboks had looked strong throughout the weekend at Ibrox, but still went into the gold medal decider as heavy underdogs against a New Zealand side that had won every single match since the sport was introduced in 1998.
However, they managed to pull off an upset to dethrone the defending champions in Glasgow, winning the top prize courtesy of a 17-12 victory.
The star of the tournament was Seabelo Senatla, who topped the try-scoring charts for the Games, and he spoke exclusively to Sports Mole following his side's historic victory.
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You're a gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games, can you sum up how you are feeling right now?
"It's an amazing feeling. Commonwealth is the stepping stone to the Olympics, so for us to win it, especially against New Zealand, our bitter rivals, I think it is a very good situation for us and the guys are very pleased with the result.
"I think this is the highlight of my career. It's the biggest thing I've ever won so far."
Does the fact that sevens is becoming an Olympic sport for the first time in 2016 make this title even more important?
"Yeah, sevens is growing so much for the Olympics. It's always going to be special winning something with this team and winning for your country anyway. It doesn't matter what tournament or what competition it is - any time you win something for your country it's going to be good.
"I think it is special for us as a team because we always came second to New Zealand in the World Series. It's been two years we've come second in the series, so getting this above them was a very big achievement."
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Not only did you win the gold medal, but you also became the first side to beat the All Blacks at the Commonwealth Games. Was that an additional motivating factor going into the match?
"Yeah, we're pretty pleased with that and we're happy to break the streak. We were just focusing on ourselves really - focusing on the process and how we came to play. We were just focusing on ourselves and the result took care of itself."
You were the match winner in the final with two tries, taking your tally for the weekend to 11 - the highest in the tournament. How happy are you with your own personal displays?
"I think I performed really well. Even though we're not looking at individuals, we're looking at the team. Sort the team out first and then the team will sort you out.
"That's how we work this side. I think the team did very well, and it fed me as well, in a way. I'm very pleased with my performance, and we'll be building for that to Rio."
Senatla's teammate and sevens legend Cecil Afrika also spoke to Sports Mole after the match.
Barney Corkhill
