CAPE TOWN – The Blitzboks have booked a semi-final berth against France after beating Kenya 17-5 in the first quarter-final of the Cape Town Sevens.
The South Africans kicked off the play-off action at the Cape Town on Sunday, meeting their fellow Africans in the first knockout game after going through the pool stages unbeaten in the pool of death, which featured the USA, Fiji and Japan.
Their quarter-final performance wasn't a pretty affair, from either side, and both teams were guilty of a number of handling errors, especially in the first half, but the Blitzboks ultimately proved too much for the big men from Kenya.
The Kenyans scored the first try through Alvin "Buffalo" Otieno, but it would be their only five-pointer.
The Blitzboks responded with one of their own when Ruhan Nel showed top control over the Gilbert to stretch out and place it over the whitewash to go into the tunnel at 5-all.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/RuhanNel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RuhanNelchats us through the game and what they will do as they await France in the @CapeTown7s semifinal. pic.twitter.com/QxXN940ssP
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks)
In the second half, the hosts scored two more through Nel - who scored his second in similar fashion to his first - and Selvyn Davids.
The Blitzboks will take on France at 2.39 PM.
Point scorers:
South Africa: Tries:
Ruhan Nel (2), Selvyn David's Conversions:
Justin Geduld
Kenya: Try:
Alvyn Otieno