Blitzboks book quarter-final place in Hong Kong
The Springbok Sevens team made it three-out-of-three at the Hong Kong leg of the World Sevens Series on Saturday to book a quarter-final spot.
There was nothing "second string" about this Blitzboks B-team. While the Blitzboks regulars are at the Commonwealth Games with coach Neil Powell, stand-in coach Marius Schoeman travelled to the Cathay Pacific Sevens event with this Blitzboks outfit.
The Blitzboks overpowered South Korea, Scotland and England on Friday and Saturday, giving them a perfect run as they prepare to head into the knock-out stages.
In their third pool game – which the South Africans won 33-15 - England's Alex Davis scored from the kick-off to get the early lead.
Stedman Gans answered with a try for the Blitzboks after beautiful interplay and a quick tap five metres out.
Will Wilson got another five-pointer for the English after that, but the Blitzboks capitalised on England's poor discipline late in the first half, and Selvyn Davids skillfully spun out of a tackle and sprinted to the try line to put them ahead at half time (14-10).
England got onto the scoreboard first in the second half through Will Edwards to take the lead, but (Selvyn) Davids showed his class shortly afterwards as he put in a stunning step and darting run to score a perfectly-executed dive-in try in the corner to regain the lead.
England finally saw the downside of their ill discipline when Alex Davis was sin-binned, and they also quickly found out that a numerical disadvantage can cost you heavily in Sevens, as Mfundo Ndhlovu added another try to the Blitzboks' superb Day Two record.
England had to beat the Blitzboks by at least seven points to progress to the quarter-finals, and although you could perhaps confidently make a prediction as to who would win the game with almost two minutes to go, Gans destroyed any doubts when he ran in a late try to take the score to 33-15.
Earlier in the day, the Blitzboks also slayed Scotland 31-17 as South Africa again showed its promising depth in the Sevens pool with another a brilliant performance.
The Blitzboks, who led 14-10 at the break, scored five tries against the Scottish, and in their Day One match against South Korea, they thrashed their opponents 45-0 on Friday.
They led 26-0 at the break and ran in seven tries against their hapless opposition.
IOL Sport