Blitzboks Olympic campaign hangs by a thread after opening day losses

The Blitzboks Olympic Games Sevens campaign hangs by a thread after they suffered defeats against Ireland and New Zealand on the opening day of the competition at the Stade de France in Paris on Wednesday.

They started with a disappointing 10-5 defeat to Ireland, before following that up with a 17-5 loss against New Zealand in the final game of the day to see them in danger of not making the competition quarterfinals.

Against New Zealand an exciting first half ended with the Blitzboks trailing after New Zealand showed terrific offloading skills to score twice through Moses Leo and Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, either side a try to captain Selvyn Davids making it 10-5 at the break.

In the second half Leo streaked away to score his second and the only try of the period to secure them a comfortable win.

Against Ireland the Blitzboks got off to a slow start and were punished as unconverted tries to Jordan Conroy and Terry Kennedy before and after the break put them into a 10-0 lead.

The Blitzboks showed good fight to score a long range try to Davids with time ticking down, but he then went from hero to zero as with time up on the clock and just the kick-off remaining, it didn’t go 10 metres allowing Ireland to kick the ball out for the win.

The quarterfinals

With only the top two teams in each pool and the two best third placed teams reaching the quarters, the Blitzboks have a slight chance of progressing if they pick up a big win over Japan in their final pool match on Thursday and hope other results go their way.

In other games Olympic defending champs Fiji got their campaign off to the perfect start, beating Uruguay 40-12 and USA 38-12, to cruise into the knockouts with a game to spare.

New Zealand and Ireland are both also through thanks to them beating the Blitzboks, while New Zealand beat Japan 40-12, and Ireland beat Japan 40-5, so regardless of the final pool match between the two they will finish as the top two sides in pool A.

They are joined in the quarterfinals by the past seasons Sevens World Series table toppers Argentina, who beat Kenya 31-12 and Samoa 28-12, as well as Australia, who triumphed 21-14 over Samoa and 21-7 over Kenya, as both will qualify as the top two in pool B.

Hosts France, who won the Sevens World Series Grand Finale, stuttered in their opener in a 12-all draw with USA, but followed that up with a 19-12 win over Uruguay and they should qualify for the next round as long as they don’t suffer a heavy defeat in their final pool match against Fiji.