The Blitzboks produced a much better display on Saturday to cruise into the Hong Kong Sevens quarter-finals with a 26-10 win over Scotland.
The South Africans led 12-0 at halftime, which was in stark contrast to their battles on day one against Japan, where they were trailing 7-5 at the break.
Neil Powell’s team played with greater confidence and accuracy this time around, even though it took them a while to open the scoring.
And who else but Selvyn Davids was the man to unlock the Scottish defence.
Davids showed off his tremendous pace and stepping skills as he whizzed past a defender to dot down.
There was still time for another touchdown before halftime, with Justin Geduld’s brave tackle on the big Jamie Farndale resulting in the ball spilling loose.
The South African counter-attack from their own 22 was led by Davids, who found Siviwe Soyizwapi, with the captain putting Ryan Oosthuizen into space.
Stedman Gans received the pass just inside his own half, and had enough speed to race over.
The second half saw some more Davids magic, with his left-footed 22-metre drop-out bouncing awkwardly, but straight into the hands of Oosthuizen, who ran through from the halfway line.
He is the quiet one in the team but Ryan Oosthuizen’s long distance try against @Scotlandteam got a loud cheer from the crowd @cathaypacific @OfficialHK7s @CastleFreeSA @FNBSA @ASICS_ZA @ASICSRugby pic.twitter.com/wjwqYz1mGM
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) April 6, 2019
Replacement Branco du Preez finished off the scoring for the Blitzboks, with two consolation tries from Scotland, through Farndale and Tom Brown, coming too little, too late.
The South Africans’ final Pool A game is against Samoa at 9.22am.
South Africa @bokke2011 proved too strong for @Scotlandteam, beating Scotland 26 - 10 #HK7s #wheretheworldcomestoplay pic.twitter.com/ddORRrkzKn
— Hong Kong Sevens (@OfficialHK7s) April 6, 2019
Points-Scorers:
Blitzboks 26 – Tries: Selvyn Davids, Stedman Gans, Ryan Oosthuizen, Branco du Preez. Conversion: Selvyn Davids (1), Du Preez (1).
Scotland 10 – Tries: Jamie Farndale, Tom Brown.
@ashfakmohamed