By Lucky Maree
Life without Neil Powell? So far so good.
With ten-ten perfect hindsight, it’s obvious that the Blitzboks would have beaten Uruguay, but this was still an acid test for the team, and certainly a big game for new head coach Sandile Ngcobo.
He would be happy that the Blitzboks started the new HSBC Sevens season calmly, clinically and confidently with a three-try win over Uruguay.
But the first day of the tournament was certainly not without surprises.
The match between France and Great Britain was always a tough one to call. Nobody ever knows (not even the French themselves) who will turn up for their rugby matches and the Great Britain side, an amalgamation of Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland playing their first match together, were a total unknown.
Well, the questions have been answered. For France the answers are very positive – for GB not so much. France scored their first try after two minutes and Les Bleus never stopped until the 13th minute when they scored their sixth try. And GB? Well, guys there’s only one way and that’s up.
And then the big surprise. Not only did Samoa beat New Zealand, they thumped them by four tries to none – and nothing New Zealand did on the field showed any sort of intention to play the game. The only effect they had on the match was irritating the ref so much that they got a stern warning to stop explaining the game to him.
France 34-0 Great Britain
South Africa 21-0 Uruguay
New Zealand 0-24 Samoa
Image source: @Blitzboks
