Blitzboks flyer Shilton van Wyk celebrates scoring his hat-trick against Fiji on day one of the Cape Town Sevens on Saturday. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images The Blitzboks bounced back from a poor start to their season with an unbeaten pool phase in the Cape Town Sevens to power into the competition semifinals on Sunday, where they will play France at the Cape Town Stadium. In the opening tournament in Dubai the Blitzboks missed out on the semis after winning just one of their three pool games, but went on tofinish fifth overall.
But there were no such problems for the defending championsin their home tournament, as they superbly beat Fiji, New Zealand and Great Britain on Saturday’s opening day, to finish top of pool A. That set them up with a semifinal against France, who finished second in pool B, and they will battle it out for a place in the final, where they will come up against either Argentina, who finished top of pool B, or Fiji, second in pool A, who will compete in the other semi. The Blitzboks started the tournament with a hard working win over Fiji, with Shilton van Wyk starring as he scored a hattrick, while Christie Grobbelaar also dotted down, as they outscored them four tries to three for a 24-21 result.
New Zealand was next up, and after trailing 7-0 at halftime, the Blitzboks turned it on in the second half with tries to Donavan Don, Van Wyk and Ronald Brown, which secured them the win, before the Dubai champs scored after the hooter to make the score 19-14. The Blitzboks then left the best for last as they crushed Great Britain in the final match of the day, cruising to a thumping 41-7 win. First half tries to Donavan Don, Ricardo Duartee, Impi Visser and David Brits, and one conversion from Duartee, gave them a comfortable 22-0 lead at halftime.
Read Full Article on The Citizen
[paywall]
In the second half further tries from Nabo Sokoyi, and a second each from Grobbelaar and Don, with a conversion each from Duartee and Selvyn Davids, put them into a 41-0 lead, before Great Britain scored a late consolation try. The Blitzboks will now hope to repeat their heroics from last year and defend their title, by triumphing in the semis and final on Sunday.
[/paywall]
