'Flawless' Blitzbokke surge into quarters
by Brenden Nel 09 December 2011, 22:09
The Springbok Sevens produced an almost flawless display, ending day one of the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens unbeaten and without conceding a point, as they set up a mouth-watering quarterfinal clash with France for Saturday.
The Blitzbokke finally clicked into gear with the return of Cecil Afrika to the side, and looked sharp both on attack and defence as they first beat Canada 33-0, followed by a 45-0 mauling of Kenya and finally a very satisfying 26-0 win over Australia, who beat them in the Plate final in Dubai.
In fact this is the first time in 103 tournaments on the IRB Sevens circuit that the Blitzbokke have gone through an entire day without conceding a point.
This sets up a rematch of the quarterfinal of Dubai, where so much was expected but never materialised as France shocked the Blitzbokke on day two of the desert tournament.
However, if ever there was a lesson learned, the Blitzbokke would have taken it to heart following their shock exit last weekend and should be able to use it as motivation come Saturday afternoon.
“The most satisfying thing about today was the zero points conceded,” smiled captain Kyle Brown after the victory over Australia.
“We spoke a lot after Dubai about our tryline defence and how important it is, and how every line is the line we defend, we don’t want to let teams cross it.
“It just shows the work ethic of the team and the guys know and understand we have a big task ahead of us tomorrow. There is an opportunity out there for us to take, and to prove that we are a really good team that is gelling well at the moment.”
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The Blitzbokke know too well how important a good start on day two is, and it is something the captain is drumming home.
“I think last week France surprised us, they outsmarted us a bit,” he explained, “ Tonight will be a night of video analysis, a night of figuring out where their weak points are and how we can outsmart them when we play.”
In the three big wins, there can be few criticisms, except perhaps that the team still seems to take a little too much contact, and work very hard for their tries.
But with Steven Hunt - who scored six tries on the day – playing well off Cecil Afrika and the balance of the team looking good, if they keep this momentum they will surely be able to have a good crack at the title on Saturday.
The tournament went as expected for much of the other games, with Samoa’s upset win over England the big talking point after the Island nation had looked bad for the opening two HSBC Sevens tournaments, not making a cup quarterfinal at all.
The result means that England will have to face Fiji in their quarterfinal, something that doesn’t rattle coach Ben Ryan.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted against Samoa, so now its Fiji, but that’s okay,” Ryan said. “We beat them in Dubai and if we beat them here tomorrow we will go above them on the overall standings, so we’re looking forward to the game.”
Samoa will face Wales in their quarterfinal while Australia will have a crack at New Zealand, who they beat comprehensively in the Plate semifinal in Dubai.
SATURDAY'S LINE-UP (all times SA, CAT, GMT+2)
BOWL QUARTERFINALS
11.16am USA v Zimbabwe
11.38am Canada v Morocco
12.00pm Portugal v Argentina
12.22pm Scotland v Kenya
CUP QUARTERFINALS
12.44 Samoa vs. Wales
13.06 South Africa vs. France
13.28 Fiji vs. England
13.50 New Zealand vs. Australia
DAY 1 RESULTS:
POOL A
England 26, USA 7; Argentina 5, Samoa 17; England 14, Samoa 24; Argentina 14, USA 21; USA 12, Samoa 14; England 19, Argentina 0
POOL B
France 31, Scotland 7; New Zealand 39, Morocco 7; France 19, Morocco 7; New Zealand 45, Scotland 0; Scotland 50, Morocco 0; New Zealand 41, France 0
POOL C
South Africa 33, Canada 0; Australia 31, Kenya 14; South Africa 45, Kenya 0; Australia 33, Canada 10; Canada 26, Kenya 5
POOL D
Fiji 31, Portugal 7; Wales 42, Zimbabwe 7; Fiji 42, Zimbabwe 17; Wales 34, Portugal 7; Portugal 24, Zimbabwe 12; Fiji 29, Wales 14