Blitzboks beaten twice in pool play, but into LA Sevens quarters

The Blitzboks will face Fiji in the Cup quarter-finals of the LA Sevens later Sunday after an eventful first day of the latest World Rugby Sevens Series tournament in Los Angeles.

Torrid weather conditions forced numerous postponements to matches, with the Blitzboks seeing their second match of the day, against Uruguay, moved twice as lightning in the area prevented play.

On top of that, a lethargic display by the Blitzboks saw them lose two of their pool matches.

Uruguay and Ireland

A hard-fought opening win against Canada (12-5) started the day on a positive note, but there was not much to smile about for the remainder of the day, with defeats against both Uruguay and Ireland.

Other results in the pool resulted in South Africa, Canada and Uruguay on the same number of log points at the end of play, but their better points difference saw the Blitzboks progress.

For Springbok Sevens assistant coach, Philip Snyman, there was little to celebrate.

He said it was a disappointing day, but they do have the opportunity to bounce back on day two.

‘Fate in own hands’

“The conditions apart, we did not play well. We did fairly well in our game against Canada, but against Uruguay we were really poor at the breakdown and protecting our ball. We were too slow to the breakdown and gave possession away unnecessarily.”

The performance against Ireland was also below their standards.

“Against Ireland, we had numerous opportunities to put them under pressure and get points, but we did not use them. We kicked possession away with players in good positions and at other times just needed to play the overlap, but did not do so. “

They will have to better against Fiji in the knock-out match, he said.

“We are in the top eight yes, but we cannot expect other results going our way and then be happy about it. We want to have our fate in our own hands. We have that now, so will go back, recover and come back stronger tomorrow.”

Cup quarters (SA times):

8.23ppm Samoa v Argentina
8.45pm South Africa v Fiji
9.07pm Great Britain v New Zealand
9.29pm Ireland v Australia

Scoring summary:

South Africa 12 (5), Canada 0
South Africa – Tries: Christie Grobbelaar, Ricardo Duarttee. Conversion: Ronald Brown

South Africa 5 (5), Uruguay 10 (0)
South Africa – Try: Ronald Brown
Uruguay – Tries: Mateo Vinals, Bautista Basso.

South Africa 5 (5) , Ireland 14 (7)
South Africa – Try: Shilton van Wyk
Ireland – Tries: Dylan O’Grady, Harry McNulty. Conversions: Billy Dardis (2)