There was no faulting the Blitzboks for effort but they finished on the wrong side of a desperately close match against Fiji in the quarter-finals of the Perth Sevens to relegate them to a play-off for fifth place today (Sunday).
There was good news from Western Australia, though because the Bok Women’s Sevens team had one of their best-ever days, beating two fancied teams in Great Britain and Spain.
Tough day at the office for the #Blitzboks.
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) January 27, 2024
We go again in the #HSBCSVNSPER tomorrow 💪#poweredbyunity pic.twitter.com/MDcB82rfD2
The Blitzboks lost their final Pool A fixture 19-5 to series leaders, Argentina, in their first match on Saturday, but still booked a spot in the Cup quarter-finals, where they came close to beating Fiji, but suffered a 14-12 defeat in a match that could have gone either way.
With every log point in the World Sevens series crucial, the Blitzboks will need to put their best foot forward today (Sunday) when they face France at 09h24 (SA time) in the fifth-place semi-final.
The Blitzboks started well against Argentina, with Quewin Nortje finishing in the corner after a long pass by Ryan Oosthuizen put him in space.
At that stage, Los Pumas were a man down due to a yellow card, but once their full complement of players was restored, the South Americans slowly wore down the Blitzboks, scoring two unanswered tries for a 14-5 lead at the break before adding another close to the final whistle to seal the deal.
Against Fiji, an early setback rocked the Blitzboks when Nortje pulled up with a leg muscle injury. Play continued for close to two minutes with the winger desperately trying to contribute despite hobbling on one leg.
Shortly thereafter, Ryan Oosthuizen scored in the corner as the Blitzboks started to dominate play, but they conceded penalties to keep Fiji in the game.
The Fijians scored early in the second half when an alignment error from the restart allowed the big South Sea Islanders to pick up momentum. A converted try gave them the lead for the first time, but that did not last long.
Replacement flyhalf Tristan Leyds sold a lovely dummy to the Fiji defence and skirted through to score. He converted his try, and the lead was back in the Blitzboks’ favour.
From the restart though, James Murphy was yellow-carded for playing an opponent in the air. With a defender short, the Fijian attack outworked their opponents to score what proved to be the decisive points in the match.
Blitzbok captain Selvyn Davids said they had no excuses: “That yellow card was unfortunate, but that was not why we lost today. Credit to Fiji who played their hearts out. We came close, but maybe we kicked too much possession away when we had the ball. I am very proud of the effort though, the guys played for the jersey.”
The Springbok Women bounced back from a disappointing start in Perth by bagging two consecutive wins on Saturday, booking them a spot in Sunday’s ninth-place final against Brazil.
Their 14-12 win over Great Britain, who topped Pool A, and a second victory over Spain (12-5) raised the roof for the Blazeboks, who had only won once in 10 matches prior to the Perth event.
The win over Great Britain, South Africa’s first pool victory since joining the current series, was massive, given the fact that the UK side had outplayed Canada and Australia on the opening day.
IOL Sport