Blitzboks still in hunt for Hong Kong glory
The Springbok Sevens team on Saturday topped pool B of the HSBC/Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sevens and will face New Zealand in the Cup quarterfinals on Sunday, keeping alive their hunt for a first ever tournament win at this venue.
The Blitzboks beat France 17-10 on Friday and on Day Two saw off spirited challenges from Kenya (35-10) and Canada (26-7) to book yet another Cup quarterfinals clash in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
South Africa has contested all six finals of the current season, winning in Dubai, Wellington, Sydney and Las Vegas.
Springbok Sevens captain, Philip Snyman, said the work is not done.
“We need to start all over on Day Three and face a very good New Zealand side in the quarters. We need to fine-tune a couple of things and come back a better team tomorrow,” Snyman said.
He complimented the impact of the bench when asked about the day’s results.
“I am pretty pleased, as we improved with every match. What I am most pleased about though, was the way the bench contributed today. Every time they came on, something happened and they made a difference to our performance. That is exactly what you expect from the guys. In particular against Canada, our bench took the match away from them.”
Canada proved a tough nut to crack in the final pool match of the day. They held South Africa to a 7-all draw at the break, but the second half was another matter altogether. Ruhan Nel was pretty instrumental when he came off the bench, scoring a good try and creating one for Siviwe Soyizwapi with a deft chip kick.
Nel was put into space earlier by Cecil Afrika, who also sliced through the Canada defence shortly after.
Dylan Sage scored in the first half, with a great conversion by Afrika from the sideline.
A hat-trick by Werner Kok settled the African affair against Kenya. Three early tries, by Kok, Branco du Preez and Philip Snyman gave South Africa a comfortable 21-0 lead, before a try on each side of halftime by Kenya closed the gap. Two more converted tries by Kok sealed the win. Du Preez’s contribution saw him move past 1000 career points, only the second South Africa to do so (Afrika was the first).
It is not getting any easier though and according to Branco du Preez, the team is looking for small margins of improvement.
“We looking to improve all the time and do things a little bit better every time we go back out,” Du Preez explains.
“Every team offers something different, so the challenge is never the same.”
The playmaker was the leading points’ scorer for the team so far with 20 points and said he was not aware that he crossed the 1000 points mark.
“To be honest, I don’t count my points out there, I am just trying to do what is best for the team. So I was not aware of the fact that I passed the 1000 mark till I was told about it,” he smiled.
The Cup quarterfinals are: (SA time)
04h58: Australia vs Argentina
05h20: Fiji vs Canada
05h42: USA vs England
06h06: South Africa vs New Zealand
Stats Notes
- Cecil Afrika (1220) extended his South African record for career points in the World Series. He has scored 16 points so far in the tournament.
- Branco du Preez (1002) became the second South African player in the World Series to score 1000 career points. He has scored 20 points so far in the tournament.
Head to Head vs New Zealand: Played 72, won 24. Average score: 14-20.
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