Bokke blitz All Blacks, claim Dubai Sevens leg
The Blitzboks made the perfect start to the defence of their World Sevens Series title by winning the season-opening tournament in Dubai yesterday.
They beat New Zealand 24-12 in the final to win their fifth Dubai title and set themselves up perfectly for next weekend’s home tournament in Cape Town after winning all six matches in the emirate.
South Africa blitzed New Zealand in the first half of the final, scoring three tries through Phillip Snyman, Seabelo Senatla and Kwagga Smith with Branco du Preez landing two conversions to run into a 19-0 lead at the break. New Zealand typically fought back after Rosko Specman was yellow-carded, with tries through Andrew Knewstubb and captain Scott Curry to make it a nervy end to the match.
But in the dying embers, Tim Agaba drove over from close range to seal the win and secure the Blitzboks the maximum 22 log points.
“We let New Zealand back into the game with a silly yellow card and one or two mistakes towards the end almost cost us,” South Africa captain Snyman said.
“It was the first tournament of the year so there were a lot of mistakes and lots we can work on as we turn our attention to Cape Town next week.
“We had a long pre-season and a few of the guys were involved in 15-man rugby and we’ve been saying that it’s a ‘brand-new team with some familiar faces’.
“We aren’t focused on the result, we are focused on the processes and our aim is to leave the pitch happy knowing we did all we can, even if the result doesn’t go our way. But we want to make last year’s loss in Cape Town right this year.”
Smith was named player of the final for his hardworking efforts but he was quick to pass the praise on to his teammates. “It’s easy to play well in a team as good as this. It’s all about making the player next to you look good, but New Zealand made it hard for us, especially when we were down to six men.”
Earlier in the day the Blitzboks beat Samoa 26-10 in the quarterfinals and then smothered Fiji to win a tight semifinal 12-7, setting up their first final against New Zealand since Vancouver, Canada, last year.
On day one the Blitzboks topped Pool A with emphatic wins over Kenya (48-5) and Canada (28-0) while battling to a rusty 19-10 win over Uganda in their opening match of the tournament.
Senatla ended the weekend with seven tries to take his career tally to 196 in only 173 games, which moved him into the top five Series try-scorers of all time.