Cape Town - They could hardly string a few passes together, and a number of unforced errors came back to bite the Springbok Sevens as they lost 21-14 to England in their Hong Kong Sevens opener on Friday.
A yellow card to Seabelo Senatla just after halftime not only reduced the Blitzbokke to six players, but also gifted the English a penalty try, which took them to a 21-7 lead with four minutes left.
And despite a late try by Philip Snyman and a pressure-cooker conversion from Branco du Preez, the South Africans were unable to level the scores as outstanding England forward James Rodwell won a critical lineout steal in the final move of the match on his own 22 to secure victory.
But things went pear-shaped from the start for Neil Powell’s team as England displayed superb ball retention and barely surrendered possession to the Blitzbokke. They pulled off several excellent offloads in the tackle, and the relentless attack eventually bore fruit when Phil Burgess beat off Cecil Afrika’s tackle to open the scoring.
Then the South Africans shot themselves in the foot once more when captain Kyle Brown misjudged the subsequent kickoff and missed it in the air, and Justin Geduld was too slow to react. England grabbed the bouncing ball and renowned speedster Dan Norton flew over to give his side a 14-0 lead.
The Blitzbokke managed to pull one back on the stroke of halftime following a yellow card to England’s Richard de Carpentier for throwing the ball away when South Africa were awarded a penalty.
The tap kick was taken and the ball was quickly spread to Senatla, who burst through a tackle inside his own half and sped away to make it 14-7 at halftime.
But then the turning point of the match came as Norton produced a brilliant chip over the top and appeared to be beating Senatla to the ball to score, and the South African tackled him without the ball.
Referee Richard Kelly had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try, and Senatla was off for two minutes with a yellow card as England captain Tom Mitchell slotted his third conversion to put his team 21-7 up.
Even though Snyman dotted down with a few seconds to go, England held on for a memorable win in the final game of day one at the Hong Kong Stadium.
Now Powell’s team will have to win both of their remaining Pool B matches on Saturday against Russia (7.54am) and Scotland (11.54am) to advance to the Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.
Scotland beat Russia 28-15 in the other Pool B game on Friday, while there were lucky escapes for New Zealand and Fiji, who beat France and Canada respectively by the same 19-17 score.
@IndyCapeSport
Points Scorers
South Africa – Tries: Seabelo Senatla, Philip Snyman. Conversions: Justin Geduld (1), Branco du Preez (1).
England – Tries: Phil Burgess, Dan Norton, Penalty Try. Conversions: Tom Mitchell (3).