Springbok Sevens clinch quarterfinal spot in Vegas
Photo: Marc Sing Key
· Final match against hosts USA to determine pool winner
· South Africans chasing third consecutive Cup win
South Africa are through to the quarterfinals of the USA Sevens after they scored two convincing pool wins on day one of the three-day tournament in Las Vegas.
The Springbok Sevens are the defending tournament champions and the current HSBC Sevens World Series leaders are aiming for a third consecutive win in Nevada.
During the early hours of Saturday morning (SA time), the Springbok Sevens defeated Portugal and Japan to lead their pool and clinch a spot in the knockout stages.
Their final pool match kicks off at 22h40 on Saturday against tournaments hosts, the United States, who continued their good form by also booking their quarterfinal place thanks to wins over Japan and Portugal.
New Zealand and Fiji are the other two teams who made it through to the quarterfinals. The rest of the teams will fight it out for the remaining Cup knockout spots in the last round of pool matches on Saturday.
On the opening day at the Sam Boyd Stadium, South African flyer Seabelo Senatla scored three tries in two matches to stretch his tally for the season to 27 so far in just five tournaments.
South Africa finished third last week in Wellington but the Springbok Sevens were not pleased with their overall performance, especially their showing on day one. In Las Vegas they came out very determined and focused again Portugal and good interplay, coupled with neat finishing saw them clinch a deserved victory.
Senatla, Rayno Benjamin and Werner Kok were the try scorers. Benjamin’s try got the fans on their feet early, receiving a deft one-handed reverse pass from Kyle Brown before racing away to score. Portugal competed very well and South Africa had to work hard to create scoring opportunities.
The Springbok Sevens were in even better form against Japan, racing to a 28-0 lead at halftime before wrapping up an impressive performance to seal their place in the Cup quarterfinals with a match to spare.
All the matches are televised live on SuperSport.
Related Posts
« England Under 20 beat Italy 61-0 in Plymouth Rugby Fifteen and Vodacom #FanUp Competition winners »
