Blitzboks take gold in Birmingham as SA Women finish on a high
The Springbok Sevens team won the gold medal at the Rugby Sevens event of the Commonwealth Games when they produced a brilliant performance to defeat Fiji 31-7 in a pulsating Final on Sunday evening in Birmingham, where New Zealand claimed bronze.
The SA Women’s Sevens team comfortably beat Sri Lanka by 52-0 to conclude the tournament on a high, finishing in seventh position, which is one spot better than in 2018 in Australia and made Paul Delport (coach) smile as he knew his inexperienced squad were facing a massive task in England.
Meanwhile, the Blitzboks played the final without the dynamic playmaker Ronald Brown, who was injured in the semi-final win over Australia earlier in the day, while regular skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi was also out injured and didn’t play at all on Sunday.
Zain Davids, who took over the captaincy, said: “I have a little bit of mixed emotions at the moment, but mostly I’m happy as we came out here and gave our all, and I think we can be very happy with our performance against a great team like Fiji.
“When ‘Shakes’ got injured, I had to take over the captaincy and I was happy to do that, because I know the guys support me, but I also knew that in this team you don’t really have to be a captain as you have a bunch of guys behind you that’s helping and supporting you.”
The South African men’s side made a great start to the final and scored three well-worked tries in the opening half while keeping the dangerous Fijian runners in check with excellent tackling and great counter-attacking play.
They deservingly led 17-0 at the break in the Coventry Stadium, while in the second half they combined their heroic defensive effort with equally great finishing performances. Muller du Plessis opened the scoring from a pinpoint Selvyn Davids cross-kick, an early sign of things to come.
JC Pretorius scored the second in the same corner after a sustained passage of attacking play, with South Africa looking well after the ball in contact. That put them 12-0 ahead.
Shaun Williams scored the third try as the menacing Pretorius stole another crucial turnover to put the little speedster away, the try handing South Africa a 17-0 half-time advantage.
After the break, Du Plessis then ran in for his second off an excellent cut-out pass from Selvyn Davids. Williams nailed the angled conversion to stretch the lead to 24-0 and left Fiji with a mountain to climb.
Fiji eventually got on the scoreboard when Nacuqu went over for converted try to reduce the deficit to 27-7.
But the Blitzboks were not to be denied. Mfundo Ndhlovu scored the final try with seconds remaining to seal a brilliant gold medal performance, denying Fiji the remaining major title that have escaped them at previous Commonwealth Games.
South Africa also won the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games staged in Glasgow.
Scorers:
South Africa 31 (17) – Tries: Muller du Plessis (2), JC Pretorius, Shaun Williams, Mfundo Ndhlovu. Conversion: Shaun Williams (2), Dewald Human.
Fiji 7 (0) – Try: Waisea Nacuqu. Conversion: Nacuqu.
The Springbok Sevens team qualified for the gold medal match by defeating Australia 24-12 on Sunday afternoon, with Angelo Davids scoring his third hat-trick of the Commonwealth Games as the South Africans recovered from an early 5-0 deficit to gain a comfortable victory.
The two teams went into the lead locked even at 12-12 after an entertaining first half but South Africa pulled away in the second half to book their spot in the grand finale.
Australia drew first blood when Mark Nawaqanitawase powered through to put the Aussies 5-0 ahead, but Angelo Davids then continued his prolific try-scoring form in Birmingham with his eighth try following a clever grubber from playmaker Selvyn Davids, with Ronald Brown’s conversion putting SA 7-5 ahead.
But the Aussies hit back immediately with a clever attack which saw Matthew Gonzalez go in under the posts to regain the lead at 12-7. However, there was just enough time before halftime for Angeloa Davids to score his second of the half, from a lineout set play, to draw the teams level at the break.
After the restart, Selvyn Davids charged down a kick and collected the loose ball to score in the corner, with a brilliant conversion edging SA ahead by 19-12.
Angelo Davids bagged his third try when the flyer scored out wide from a well-worked move. SA was now in control at 24-12 and all they needed to do was to manage out time until the final whistle.
Scorers:
South Africa 24 (12) – Tries: Angelo Davids (3), Selvyn Davids. Conversions: Ronald Brown, Selvyn Davids.
Australia 12 (12) – Tries: Mark Nawaqanitawase, Matthew Gonzales. Conversion: Dietrich Roache.
SA Women’s Sevens finish on a high in Birmingham
The Springbok Women’s Sevens team saved their best for last to claim seventh place at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham after a comprehensive 52-0 victory over Sri Lanka at Coventry Stadium on Sunday evening.
Australia beat Fijiana in the women’s gold medal match by 22-12, while New Zealand took bronze with a 19-12 win over Canada.
The SA Women – who faced Australia and Fijiana in their tough pool on Friday and travelled to England without a number of regulars, who were on tour with the national 15s team in Japan – finally found their groove and simply had too much class, pace and power for the never-say-die Sri Lankans.
They improved their position from the 2018 tournament on the Australian Gold Coast by one spot, which was something Paul Delport was proud of: “We don’t play against top-class opposition, and playing at these international competitions will be the only way to improve.
“Lots of lessons learnt, including a general understanding of what needs to be done at tournaments such as this one. But I was very proud of the ladies, they were incredibly brave considering six of them had never played sevens before and seven made their international debut.
“All things considered, I’m happy as we got incrementally better and our understanding of the game has improved, which will only happen by playing at this level.”
Liske Lategan scored a first-half hat-trick, while Felicia Jacobs and Zandile Masuku also crossed the whitewash for the South Africans before the break to hand them a 33-0 lead as the teams swapped sides, with Donelle Snyders converting four of the five tries.
Lategan’s first two tries came from mistakes by Sri Lanka – a turnover and a loose pass – while Masuku rounded off a move that included a clever kick-pass, just like the Blitzboks have been doing with great success in Birmingham.
Sri Lanka did well to stop the green wave early in the second half, but in the last few minutes of the game, Masuku added a second try to her tally, before Jacobs scored twice in the final two minutes to also grab a hat-trick. Nontuthuko Shongwe added two conversions to push the SA Women past 50 points.
Scorers:
SA Women 52 (33) – Tries: Liske Lategan (3), Felicia Jacobs (3), Zandile Masuku (2). Conversions: Donelle Snyders (4), Nontuthuko Shongwe (2).
Sri Lanka 0
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