By Lucky Vince Pienaar
Unbeaten on their way to the finals at the HSBC Sevens Tournament in Hong Kong, under coach Philip Snyman the Blitzboks buried some ghosts that have been haunting them for far too long.
In their opening match, they scored four unanswered tries against Ireland. Ireland remained scoreless until Justin Geduld got a red card in the 10th minute.
A fatal event that happened too often throughout the tournament.
Against Spain, they again scored four tries, two of them in the last minute, with the speed of Shaun Williams, Quewin Nortje and Shilton van Wyk proving too much for the Spaniards.
Before the third match, the feared Samoans looked like a tough test, but the Blitzboks raced over them, the speedsters running rings around them, giving the Blitzboks a clean slate heading into the finals.
But there was a heavy price to pay.
If the red card against Justin Geduld was a body blow, the red card and three match ban against Selvyn Davids was a fatal decision that probably cost the Blitzboks a chance to win the tournament.
Still in the hunt for the trophy at the play-offs, the Blitzboks faced Australia, but the South Africans were clearly exhausted. Injuries and cards taking their toll, the speedy Blitzboks were suddenly flatfooted, never looking like they could win. Australia scored two tries – the Blitzboks none.
In the 5th place play-off, Fiji ran in three tries in the first three minutes and later was awarded a penalty try and scored a late try. The South Africans managed two tries to finish sixth overall in the tournament.
By winning those first three matches they laid some serious ghosts to rest. They had tough matches against Ireland, Spain and Samoa, but that is now in the past. With Snyman in charge, the Blitzboks once again know how to win.
Blitzboks 22-17 Ireland
Blitzboks tries: Shilton van Wyk, Dewald Human, Quewin Nortje, Ryan Oosthuizen
Blitzboks 24-10 Spain
Blitzboks tries: Dewald Human, Shaun Williams (2), Darren Adonis (14′)
Blitzboks 26-7 Samoa
Blitzboks tries: Shilton van Wyk, Quewin Nortje, Impi Visser, Shaun Williams
Blitzboks 0-15 Australia
Blitzboks tries: None
Blitzboks 14-33 Fiji
Blitzboks tries: Shilton van Wyk, Kat Letebele.
Pictured above: Blitzboks.
Image source: Blitzboks/X
