Blitzboks to face Uganda in Olympic repechage quarterfinal

The Blitzboks completed a successful pool stage of their World Rugby Sevens Repechage tournament in Monaco on Saturday, finishing top of Pool A after three straight victories to head into the quarterfinals in good form.

After kicking off the final Olympic qualifier, which the Blitzboks have to win to make it to the Games in Paris next month, with a thumping 44-0 win over Mexico on Friday evening, they followed that up with victories over Tonga (31-7) and Chile (26-7) on Saturday.

They will now face fellow African side Uganda in the tournament quarterfinals (kick-off 11:31am SA time) on Sunday, as they aim to power their way to the title and a place in the Olympic Games.

Important hurdle

Springbok Sevens interim head coach Philip Snyman praised his troops after the three wins, saying that an important first hurdle was crossed.

“We needed to top the pool and to do so, we needed to play three good matches on the trot. I think we did that over the last two days, and although it was not perfect, the first objective was reached,” said Snyman.

In an ironic turn of events they will take on Uganda, a team Snyman coached to Rugby World Cup Sevens qualification in 2022.

“They are skillful athletes and a country with a proud Olympic heritage, so they need no motivation for this game,” said Snyman.

“For us the challenge will be to continue the momentum picked up over the first two days because this is when it really matters.”

Physical affair

On Saturday the Blitzboks opening clash against Tonga was a physical affair as expected, but they countered that with superior ball skills and pace.

Quewin Nortje again showed that his pace had no peers at this level with two well taken tries in the first half that gave them a 10-0 lead at the break.

The second half was more of the same as Shilton van Wyk dotted down in the corner, while further scores from Selvyn Davids and Shaun Williams gave them a comfortable win, although a Tonga try kept them honest with the final score being 31-7.

Against Chile, more patience was needed to break their opponents down, with Tristan Leyds opening the scoring after a delightful Selvyn Davids grubber opened up the Chilean defence.

Van Wyk then scored on the buzzer after a delightful Leyds offload, while he slotted both conversions as well for a 14-0 lead at the break.

In the second spell, Siviwe Soyizwapi finished a well-worked try from a counter-attack that started near their own line, before Chile pulled one back with two minutes left, but Ryan Oosthuizen scored after a soft touch by Tiaan Pretorius and Shaun Williams converted to seal a 26-7 win.