By Lucky Vince Pienaar
After a performance the Blitzboks would like to forget in Dubai last week, the Blitzboks have been on fire throughout the weekend in Cape Town.
➤ The pool matches
The change in the format, with only three teams per pool, means that if a team loses one match they cannot get into the final. This has given the pool stages a sudden-death feel with every match a battle for survival.
After the messy Dubai tournament, Phillip Snyman said he wasn’t happy. Oh, really? Well, nobody was happy. But he did promise an improved performance in Cape Town. Promises, promises, neh? Except this time the Blitzboks have done the job.
In the first match playing against Ireland, the Blitzboks kicked off powerfully, never giving Ireland a chance to get into the game. The Blitzboks were mercilessly good, scoring six tries to one.
But the gutsy Ireland team, as everybody knew, had the most disastrous lead-up to the match, having only nine players for the full tournament. How would the Blitzboks do against a full-strength team?
Their second match was against Argentina, one of the strongest sevens team in the tournament and a bit of a bogey team for South Africa.
But there was nothing to worry about.
Like with the first match, the Blitzboks went about their business, scoring five tries and making the Argentinian side look pretty ordinary. Riccardo Duarttee lived up to his nickname of “Tricky Dicky” and scored two tries. If there was such a thing in Sevens, he would have been the man of the match.
➤ The semi-final
Nothing is more frustrating to watch than a Blitzboks team that seems to have fallen asleep. When South Africa started the semi-final match against Spain as if they didn’t care, it looked as if they had fallen back into their old ways.
The Spanish team appeared as if out of nowhere to become a tournament-winning side and it seemed all but over for the Blitzboks when they ended the second half twelve points down, not having threatened the Spanish try line even once.
But then they woke up in the second half as if they had fallen into a bath of ice water. The Blitzboks scored three tries in two minutes, streaking into the lead and fighting their way through to the final.
➤ The final
When France shot into the lead with a try by Celian Pouzelgues after virtually the opening movement, it seemed too easy. Were the Blitzboks going to choke?
No! Just a minute later the Blitzboks responded when Donovan Don crossed the white wash followed by Zain Davids, giving the Blitzboks a two tries to one lead.
Although France levelled the scores just after the break through Varian Pasquet, the Blitzboks seemed to be getting a grip on the game.
This is a great French team, but they seemed somehow a little rattled by the Blitzboks’ rush defence and the speed that they were playing at.
Shilton van Wyk gave the Blitzboks a fairly good lead and David Brits made it a 12 point lead, making it look as if the match was over.
But then Siviwe Soyizwapi got a yellow card and the game was back in the balance for the last two minutes, but France never looked like scoring.
South Africa last won the Cape Town sevens in 2015, when current coach Phillip Snyman was a player.
Was it an important win? Ask the players, ask Snyman and ask the spectators who almost filled the Cape Town Stadium. Yes, it’s important.
Pool matches:
South Africa (6 tries) 36-7 (1 try) Ireland
South Africa (5 tries) 29-5 (1 try) Argentina
Semi-final:
South Africa (3 tries) 17-12 (2 tries) Spain
Final:
South Africa (4 tries) 26-14 (2 tries) France
Pictured above: Blitzboks on the attack against Spain in the semi-final
Source: SA Rugby
