Emphatic opening win for Blitzboks in Hong Kong
one’s pushing,” he said.
Rosberg now finds himself in the novel position of leading the championship standings, and he said he was more than happy with Formula One’s new era following a raft of technical changes. - THE Springbok sevens rugby team recovered from a slow start to score an emphatic 31-7 win over France yesterday in their quest to capture a first-ever Hong Kong Sevens title.
After leading just 14-7 at halftime and looking somewhat subdued, the South Africans found their rhythm in the second stanza to score three more tries for a convincing win over the unpredictable but talented French side.
Kyle Brown, the Springbok Sevens captain, left the field midway through the first half after he took a hard blow to the head.
Brown was replaced by Philip Snyman, but he passed a concussion test while the match was still in progress and was cleared to play again.
Wing Seabelo Senatla opened the scoring for the South Africans but Virimi Vatakawa levelled the score 7-7, before Junior Bok Justin Geduld sliced through several defenders to score. That try gave the Blitzboks a halftime lead of 14-7.
The second half was barely a few seconds old when speedster Senatla scored his second try of the match to stretch SA’s lead to 21-7, crashing into the advertising boards in the process.
Influential playmaker Cecil Afrika, who missed the Tokyo Sevens because of a hamstring injury, made an immediate impact after coming on as replacement and scored with virtually his first touch of the match.
Super-sub Werner Kok then crashed over for South Africa’s fifth try with a typical powerful run for a final score of 31-7 in favour of the Blitzboks.
Neil Powell, the SA coach, said afterwards: “France played very well and kept us out with good defence and clever play in the first half.
“We were a bit more composed after halftime and the guys took the opportunities which came our way.”
Australia beat Spain 28-14 in the other Pool B fixture yesterday.
The Springbok team play against Spain early this morning and then complete their Pool B fixtures against Australia at 12.54pm (SA time).