Cape Town - Bryan Habana scored with his first touch of the ball as the Springbok Sevens won both their games in a solid start on day one of the Las Vegas Sevens.
Played on Friday night on the United States west coast, which was early Saturday morning South African time, the Blitzboks dispatched Canada 33-7 and then overcome a patchy start to power over Wales 36-7 in their second game of the day.
Neil Powell’s team will play their final Pool D match at 12.35am on Sunday morning SA time against hosts USA.
Habana, making his return to the shorter format in a bid to make the team for the Rio Olympics in August, came on to the field with just less than four minutes left in the second half against Canada to loud cheers from the Blitzboks fans at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
And he didn’t disappoint. Habana – wearing No 5 on his back inside of his usual No 11, which is sevens superstar Seabelo Senatla’s number – made his mark almost immediately. Cecil Africa put through an inch-perfect chip kick ahead from inside the South African half, and Habana, who started on his own 10-metre line, out-sprinted the cover defence to gather the bouncing ball and go over under the posts.
Before that, though, the South Africans were ruthless, running up a 26-0 halftime lead through tries by Seabelo Senatla (2), Justin Geduld and Ruhan Nel.
Canada got a consolation try through Philip Mack as he bounced off tackles from Branco du Preez and Nel, but it was too late to affect the result.
The Blitzboks found things tougher in their second Pool D match against Wales, as they conceded an early try. Geduld decided to clear the ball with a kick inside his own 22, but it was charged down by Ethan Davies, who won the race to the bouncing ball and smartly sidestepped past Senatla to dot down.
The Welsh were much more physical in the tackle and at the breakdowns, and it caused the South Africans some problems as they battled to find their rhythm.
But they settled down after kicking a penalty to the Welsh 10m line, and pulled off a brilliant set move. Geduld threw the ball into the set-piece to Chris Dry, who fed Kwagga Smith, and the Lions loose forward attacked the blindside and offloaded to Geduld on his inside for a wonderful try.
Then it was time for the Blitzboks to “bring the heat” on Wales as Nel shot out of the defensive line and made a stop tackle on the ball-carrier inside the Welsh 22, and he had the vision to pick the ball up as well. He passed to Roscko Speckman, who put Senatla over for his third try of the day.
The Western Province speedster then put his foot down from the halfway line to go around his opponent for another five-pointer, and got his hat trick soon after that as he was set up by Speckman once more.
Geduld got his second of the match off a well-worked move from a scrum, and the South Africans finished off with Dry driving a Welshman back on their 22, which saw Habana win the ball on the ground.
Senatla and Afrika combined with the loose ball to send Du Preez over for the final try.
SA v Canada Scorers
SA – Tries: Seabelo Senatla (2), Justin Geduld, Ruhan Nel, Bryan Habana. Conversions: Geduld (3), Branco du Preez.
Canada – Tries: Philip Mack. Conversions: Nathan Hirayama (1).
SA v Wales Scorers
SA – Tries: Justin Geduld (2), Seabelo Senatla (3), Branco du Preez. Conversions: Geduld (2), Du Preez.
Wales – Tries: Ethan Davies. Conversions: Ethan Davies (1).