The Blitzboks made a poor start in their fading bid to clinch the World Rugby Sevens Series on Saturday as they went down 14-12 to Scotland in their opening Paris Sevens clash.
The South Africans were trailing 7-0 in the first half after Robbie Fergusson opened the scoring for the Scots, but Neil Powell’s team hit back quickly through Justin Geduld, who also converted his own try to level the scores at 7-7.
While the Scottish side gave as good as they got, the Blitzboks regained the lead when superstar Seabelo Senatla crossed the whitewash with a superb bit of skill as he let the ball go and picked it up again to put them 12-7 up, and one would’ve thought that it would be enough to see them through to victory.
But in a dramatic finish, Harvey Elms broke the Blitzboks’ hearts when he shrugged off Ryan Oosthuizen to dot down the equalising try at 12-12.
It came down to Fergusson with the decisive conversion, and he made no mistake to claim a 14-12 victory.
“ We will just have to bounce back “ @wernerkok1 after the Blitzboks 12-14 defeat to @Scotlandteam. They now have to win against Russia and Canada to stay in the race for the Cup. pic.twitter.com/cHy9b7qzdS
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) June 9, 2018
The Blitzboks now face two must-win encounters against Russia (1.02pm) and Canada (6.30pm) if they are to reach the Cup quarter-finals and have any chance of snatching the World Series crown from Fiji.
@ashfakmohamed