Sloppy Blitzboks scrape through to Quarterfinals

WRAP: The Blitzboks produced a disappointing performance on the second day of the Hong Kong Sevens as they suffered a 10-12 defeat to Great Britain and also lost to France 17-19.

France produced a fighting second-half to keep the South Africans from scoring a single point. The loss means that France tops Pool B and the Blitzboks scrape through to the quarter-finals courtesy of points difference and finish second in the pool.

Ronald Brown opened the scoring for the Blitzboks in the middle of the poles, which he converted. Impi Visser soon followed with a try of his own before Selvyn Davids scored in the corner.

It was a sloppy performance from South Africa as they missed several try opportunities, losing the ball and advantage to a resurgent French outfit.

South Africa next face rivals Fiji in their Cup quarter-final game on Sunday at 05:50 SA time.

Fiji – who are chasing a record-extending sixth straight title at Hong Kong Stadium – continued their perfect start to the tournament with two more wins, ran in five tries in a 35-21 victory over Spain, but did not have it all their own way.

They were far more convincing, though, in their third outing of the weekend, brushing aside the USA 24-0 to maintain their 100 per cent record in pool C, after thrashing Japan 59-12 on Friday.

There was a second defeat for Hong Kong in their debut appearance on the main Series, but they showed plenty of fight, scoring two tries in a battling 38-14 loss to heavyweights New Zealand.

Fresh from beating New Zealand in Friday’s penultimate game, Samoa secured another huge upset by coming from behind to beat Australia on Saturday.

They trailed the green-and-gold for much of their pool A match, but a late score from Vaa Apelu Maliko levelled it – before he scored another on the hooter to help Samoa edge the contest 22-17.

Meanwhile the Irish underlined their credentials with two more wins on Saturday, beating Kenya 28-12 in the opening game of the day, before battling past Argentina 21-17.

Day 2 Results

Ireland 19 - 17 Canada

Argentina 26 - 7 Kenya

USA 35 - 2 Japan

Fiji 35 - 21 Spain

France 45 - 5 Uruguay

South Africa 10 - 12 Great Britain

New Zealand 38 - 14 Hong Kong

Australia 17 - 22 Samoa

Kenya 14 - 19 Canada

Argentina 17 - 21 Ireland

Spain 33 - 19 Japan

Fiji 24 - 0 USA

Great Britain 17 - 19 Uruguay

South Africa 17 - 19 France

Samoa 31 - 15 Hong Kong

Australia 24 - 17 New Zealand