More injuries for victorious Blitzbokke

Published Feb 6, 2016

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Cape Town - They swept all before them on day one of the Sydney Sevens, but now the Springbok Sevens side are sweating on the fitness of two star players for Sunday’s quarter-final.

The Blitzbokke held off fellow Africans Kenya with a hard-fought 26-19 victory on Saturday morning that secured top spot in Pool B.

Neil Powell’s team will take on Argentina in Sunday’s Cup quarter-final (3.41am SA time), but he will be worried about the shoulder injuries sustained by captain Philip Snyman and livewire Kwagga Smith.

Both players got hurt in the Blitzbokke’s opening match of the Sydney Sevens against Scotland, with Smith going off after just three minutes and Snyman in the second half. The Bok Sevens won the match comfortably enough at 33-7, but now they may have to face Argentina without two key players.

The Blitzbokke are already missing a number of experienced players such as regular captain Kyle Brown, Cecil Afrika, Rayno Benjamin and Branco du Preez, which has seen youngsters such as Dylan Sage, Sandile Ngcobo and Tim Agaba come into the squad for last week’s Wellington tournament and now in Sydney.

But following the controversial defeat to New Zealand in the Wellington final, the Blitzbokke came out firing against Scotland on Saturday, grabbing a 19-0 lead by halftime. The speedy Specman caught the eye again with his quick feet and ability to create space for his teammates, as he set up Seabelo Senatla to open the scoring and then went over himself as he went around defenders with terrific pace.

Ngcobo also got on to the scoresheet for the first time with a dramatic sidestep that left the Scottish defence for dead to dot down under the posts.

It was all too easy against Russia, though, as the Eastern Europeans battled to cope with the pace and precision of the Blitzbokke. They fell off tackles and didn’t come up with any threatening attacking plays, which resulted in a runaway 40-0 victory for the South Africans.

Agaba, though, won’t have fond memories of it as he received a yellow card for tripping a Russian player in the second half.

In the pool decider against Kenya, the Blitzbokke were on the back foot from the start as Collins Injera gave the East Africans the lead after Biko Adema broke the line.

But the South Africans hit back quickly, with Specman at the heart of it as he played a role in all three first-half tries. He put Senatla away on the outside to level the scores, and then combined with Juan de Jongh to create the room for Kolbe to fly across the whitewash.

Kolbe returned the favour as he put in a lovely chip over the top, and Specman outstripped the Kenyan defence to give the Blitzbokke a 19-5 lead.

However, just when you thought Powell’s team were cruising, Oscar Ouma found in an opening and produced a brilliant offload for Willy Ambaka to go over. Adema got the conversion as well, and suddenly it was 19-12 at halftime to South Africa.

But led by Francois Hougaard’s robust defence, the Blitzbokke never allowed the Kenyans to get into a rhythm on attack. Hougaard contested hard at the breakdowns, and put in some huge tackles as well.

Newcomers Carel du Preez and Sage also added some much-needed physicality on defence in the absence of Smith and Snyman, and ran hard with ball-in-hand.

Specman got involved again to douse the Kenyans’ fire as he partnered with Kolbe to put De Jongh into space for a crucial try that stretched the Blitzbokke’ lead to 14 points at 26-12.

Oscar Ayodi dotted down for Kenya later and ensured a nervy last 90 seconds for the South Africans, but they held out to remain unbeaten on day one in Sydney.

Blitzbokke Day 1 Results

SA 33 Scotland 7, SA 40 Russia 0, SA 26 Kenya 19.

Points-Scorers

SA v Scotland

SA– Tries: Seabelo Senatla (2), Rosko Specman, Cheslin Kolbe, Sandile Ngcobo. Conversions: Kolbe (2), Specman (2).

Scotland – Try: Gavin Lowe. Conversion: Scott Wight (1).

SA v Russia

SA – Tries: Carel du Preez, Cheslin Kolbe, Seabelo Senatla (3), Dylan Sage. Conversions: Kolbe (5).

SA v Kenya

SA – Tries: Seabelo Senatla, Cheslin Kolbe, Rosko Specman, Juan de Jongh. Conversions: Kolbe (3).

Kenya – Tries: Collins Injera, Willy Ambaka, Oscar Ayodi. Conversions: Biko Adema (2).

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