Blitzboks bounce back against Kenya to stay alive in Bordeaux

Blitzboks flyer Shilton van Wyk scored a double in their second pool match of the France Sevens against Kenya in Bordeaux on Friday night. Picture: David van der Sandt/Gallo Images The Blitzboks bounced back from a shock opening loss with a big 26-5 win over Kenya in their second pool match of the France Sevens at the Stade de Bordeaux on Friday night. Aftergoing down 19-14 to Great Britainin extra time in their opening match, the Blitzboks desperately needed a victory to get themselves back on track, and that they did against their African rivals.

The result, coupled with Fiji beating Great Britain 26-12, after they won their opener against Kenya 31-12, movesthe Blitzboksinto second on the pool A log, behind the table topping Pacific Islanders. The Blitzboksnow need to beat Fiji in their final pool match on Saturday morning (kick-off 11.06am) if they are to secure a place in the competition quarter-finals. Even if they lose they could still sneak into the knockouts but will need other results to go their way.

In the match against Kenya the Blitzboks got off to a great start after they started an attack from a scrum on their own 22m. They nicely worked their way up field, sending the ball one way and back the other, before Shilton van Wyk threw a dummy and hit a gap to race away and score the opener after two minutes. Kenya then enjoyed some possession, but eventually lost the ball after a strong rip from Siviwe Soyizwapi got the Blitzboks the ball back.

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But they were first forced back into their own 22m by some impressive defence, before attacking from deep, as the ball went wide to Quewin Nortje who broke down the line and found Van Wyk on his inside to sprint off for a converted score, which gave them a 12-0 lead at the break. The Blitzboks started the second half with a bang, earning a penalty on the Kenyan 22m, chose to scrum, attacked and Ricardo Duarttee slung a long pass out to Nortje, who stepped inside, busted through a tackle and went over under the posts in the ninth minute. Two minutes later and the Blitzboks were in for their fourth, again attacking from a scrum inside the Kenya 22m, with Duarttee going down the blindside and releasing Nortje to run around under the posts, with the conversion putting them 26-0 up.

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