Blitzboks beat Kenya to finish top of pool

The Blitzboks claimed a good 24-21 (halftime 19-7) win over Kenya in their third game of the London Sevens to finish top of their pool at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.

It was the perfect response after a disastrous performance at the Toulouse Sevens last weekend, with the Blitzboks bouncing back with wins over Argentina and Ireland before closing out against Kenya.

It was a strong first half performance that saw the Blitzboks streak into a 19-0 lead, before Kenya fought back to make it a tight game in the end.

The Blitzboks got the match off to a great start as Impi Visser went over for the opening score in the second minute, with Ronald Brown slotting the conversion.

Two minutes later Dewald Human showed a great turn of pace to sprint down the left hand touchline to score in the corner, to put the Blitzboks up 12-0.

Muller du Plessis then made it three in a row in the first half for the Blitzboks as he powered through the Kenyan defence and sprinted away to score, with Brown’s extras making it 19-0.

Kenya fightback

However Kenya then began their fightback as Nelson Ooyo ghosted through for their first try to make it 19-7 at the break.

Lions flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse then made his Blitzboks debut, coming on at halftime and put in an assured performance, but it was Kenya who won the half as they made sure it would not all go the Blitzboks way.

Ooyo’s impressive game continued as he ran in his second try with three minutes to go, with the score 19-14 and Kenya right back in it.

However Blitzboks captain Siviwe Soyizwapi shut the door with a minute to go, breaking through the Kenyan defence and then fended off the same defender twice to go over for an unconverted try.

Kenya then ended the match with a try after the fulltime hooter as Ooyo made the break and put away Salem Adoyo for the converted score.