Blitzboks show fighting spirit as they reach last-8
● The Springboks Sevens coaches will hope the players keep the same composure and fighting spirit they used to secure their place in the quarterfinals when they face off with Australia for a place in the Cape Town SVNS semifinals today.
The Blitzboks, who have failed to win on home soil for eight years — with their last triumph dating back to 2015 — started their campaign this year at Cape Town Stadium on a good note yesterday, before they suffered a defeat to Ireland in the final game of the day last night.
The best they have done at home since then has been to finish as runners-up in 2016 and 2019.
Though the defeat denied them the chance to finish at the summit of Pool A, it didn’t do a lot of harm as they had already booked their place in the knockouts. But it gave the hosts an idea on what they will need to fix to stand a good chance of winning the tournament.
Before that, the hosts had kicked off their day yesterday with a 19-5 victory over Great Britain, before showing amazing strength of character to see off the US by 26-14.
The Blitzboks had enjoyed a great start against the Americans as they kept the travellers at bay while scoring two tries to lead 14-0 at half-time. Ryan Oosthuizen and Rosko Specman were on the scoresheet for the South Africans at the halfway mark.
But a Justin Geduld yellow card at the beginning of the second stanza provided the massive gap that the Americans needed to stage a comeback, to remain in the race for the knockouts.
The US capitalised on their numerical advantage as they scored two tries in as many minutes through Lucas Lacamp to level the scores at 14-14.
The Blitzboks weren’t prepared to go down without a fight. Impi Visser and Ronald Brown scored two late tries to help the hosts seal the victory and an important place in the quarterfinals.
Blitzboks assistant coach Philip Snyman, who led the side in a successful Dubai SVNS at the beginning of the month — in the absence of head coach Sandile Ngcobo — was pleased with how the boys fought and remained composed against the US.
Ngcobo, who is on crutches, is part of the team in Cape Town.
“I’m very happy with the win, I think we were clinical in the first half with two tries and went into half-time leading 14-0. And straight after kick-off (for the second half) we conceded a penalty, and they gained momentum from that,” Snyman told the media.
“After that, we had another penalty with a yellow card, and they scored two quick tries, and it was 14-all. But I must give a lot of credit to the players and those who came off the bench and showed a lot of character. They kept their composure and managed to seal the deal at the end,” he said.
“Overall, we are very happy. We still have the same fighting spirit. You can see the guys fighting for the jersey, hunting guys down for not scoring a try. If you take everything, I’m very happy with the result.”
Against Great Britain, Quewin Nortje was the star of the show, scoring a brace of tries as the hosts made the windy conditions look like they weren’t any trouble for them.
The Blitzboks led 5-0 at half-time before they overpowered the British in the final stanza of the game, scoring 14 points. Geduld was on the list of scorers.
Against Ireland, SA committed a lot of errors that saw them surrender their early 5-0 lead to lose the match 12-14. The Blitzboks were the first to score through Speckman, but the visitors had a better response.
Gavin Mullin scored two quick converted tries to give Ireland a 14-5 lead at the break. Dewald Human’s second-half converted try was not enough for the hosts to stage a comeback.
Cape Town SVNS Men’s Cup quarterfinals today:
Argentina v Canada – 10.34am
Ireland v New Zealand – 10.56am
Australia v Blitzboks – 11.18am
Fiji v France – 11.40am