Zander Reynders waited for the perfect opportunity to score his first try for the Springbok Sevens team, after the buzzer against Argentina, as the Blitzboks bounced back from a disappointing start in Singapore to beat HSBC SVNS series leaders Argentina in their final pool game on Saturday.
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The try, which was scored after the Blitzboks showed superb patience on attack against the South Americans, handed them a 26-24 victory, but unfortunately a big defeat in their opening game means the South Africans didn’t do enough to qualify for the semi-finals.
Worst possible start
Due to the nature of this tournament, with the four pool winners progressing straight to the semi-finals, the Blitzboks – who had the worst possible start to the weekend as they were beaten 38-10 by Great Britain in their opening game – dropped out of the title race despite the brilliant win over Los Pumas, tournament winners last weekend in Hong Kong.
A red card to Sebastiaan Jobb inside the first two minutes meant the South Africans were on the back foot for most of the game against Great Britain, and a second half yellow to Dewald Human didn’t help their cause at all.
To compound the Blitzboks’ problems, they lost Donavan Don to injury in the second half after Harry Glover was judged to have played him in the air, a challenge that resulted in a red card for the GB captain.
After Jobb was sent off for a dangerous tackle, the Britons wasted no time to exploit their numerical advantage and three minutes later, they led by 21-0.
When the Blitzboks managed to get some form of possession, Zain Davids pulled one back, but Great Britain had the final say in the first half with their fourth try to lead 26-5.
Human scored before he was sin binned for a cynical foul and when Glover was sent off the game lost some structure as Great Britain had the final say with their sixth try for a comprehensive victory.
The Blitzboks put that memory behind them though and showed what they are capable of against the world series leaders in their second game.
Argentina took an early lead, but the Blitzboks hit back with tries by Zain Davids and Siviwe Soyizwapi – both converted by Selvyn Davids on tricky angles – to make it 14-7, before the South Americans scored on the stroke of half-time to make it a two-point game.
Los Pumas took the lead again with their third try (17-12) but the Blitzboks were not done yet and when Human went over, the South Africans again held a two-point lead on the scoreboard.
It wasn’t over yet and when Argentina scored their fourth to make it 24-19 and won a penalty with time almost up on the clock, it didn’t look good for the Blitzboks.
But they stole the resulting lineout and kept fighting, working their way into the Argentinean 22 before Reynders had the final say, falling on the ball in the in-goal after a sublime grubber into space by David Brits.
The Blitzboks will next face the USA in the ninth-place semi-final at 05h:50 (SA time) on Sunday.
SCORERS
South Africa 10-38 Great Britain
South Africa – Tries: Zain Davids, Dewald Human
Great Britain – Tries: Harry Glover, Sunni Jardine (2), Will Homer, Luke Mehson, Matt Davidson. Conversions: Homer (4)
South Africa 26-24 Argentina
South Africa – Tries: Zain Davids, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Dewald Human, Zander Reynders. Conversions: Selvyn Davids (2), Ricardo Duarttee
Argentina – Tries: Luciano Gonzalez, Tobias Wade, Matías Osadczuk, Agustin Fraga. Conversions: Joaquin Pellandini, Wade.
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