Blitzboks dig deep to make Hong Kong semi-finals

The Springbok Sevens shrugged off their Friday form and made it into the Cathay/HSBC SVNS Hong Kong semi-finals with a nail-biting 26-22 victory over Kenya in their quarter-final at Kai Tak Sports Ground on Saturday and will will face New Zealand at 8am (SA time) on Sunday for a place in the final of the opening HSBC SVNS World Championship tournament.

Two tries in the last two minutes got the Blitzboks past the Kenyans, who were leading 22-14 with Selvyn Davids in the sin bin at the time.

Davids was yellow carded for playing the ball on the ground near the SA tryline and Kenya scored from the resulting penalty in what seemed to be a winning buffer given the match situation.

But then the class and urgency of the Blitzboks kicked in.

Quewin Nortje scored from the restart, with the speedster kicking ahead into space and outpacing the defence before regathering the ball to dot down under the posts and with the Ronald Brown conversion, Kenya held a one-point lead with less than a minute to go.

Tristan Leyds won the restart and the Blitzboks – who lost their last four quarter-finals in Hong Kong – surged upfield. A couple of penalties later, Leyds put Siviwe Soyizwapi away and the experienced veteran scored the match-winner more than a minute after the clock turned red.

The first half did not quite provide the same drama. Davids scored early and Leyds converted for a 7-0 lead but Kenya struck back with two tries in quick succession to move ahead by 12-7 on the scoreboard.

They then conceded a yellow card for playing Davids in the air through and with the Blitzboks playing the numbers, Donavan Don was given space to run and he finished in style. Leyds converted and leading by 14-12 at the break, the South Africans looked on track.

Two tries by Kenya and the yellow card to Davids turned the match on its head though and entertained the huge crowd for a grandstand finish.

After a lacklustre performance on Friday, the Blitzboks qualified for the quarter-finals with a ruthless display in their final pool match earlier on Saturday, beating Argentina 38-0 to top their pool.

The blow-out score came from a faultless display by Blitzboks, who did everything right – they were clinical on attack and pressed hard on defence.

A red card after three minutes to Martiniano Arrieta also broke Argentina’s momentum, who dropped from first to third on the log after the defeat, swopping places with the Blitzboks.

Some excellent play by Ryan Oosthuizen dominated proceedings in the opening minutes, with the experienced forward scoring a try as well as setting up two more but this was a team effort of note to score four tries before the half-time hooter and another two after.

Scores

Pool match: South Africa 38 (26), Argentina 0 (0)

SA – Tries: Sebastiaan Jobb, Ryan Oosthuizen, Selvyn Davids, Tristan Leyds (2), Shilton van Wyk. Conversions: Leyds (3), Ronald Brown.

Quarter-final: South Africa 26 (14), Kenya 22 (12)

SA – Tries: Selvyn Davids, Donavan Don, Quewin Nortje, Siviwe Soyizwapi. Conversions: Tristan Leyds (2), Ronald Brown.

Kenya – Tries: John Ohoth Okeyo, Denis Abukuse, Kevin Wekesa Nyongesa, Festus Shiasi Safari. Conversion: Nygel Pettersan Amaitsa.