Blitzboks win seventh-place play-off against Samoa

Sunday night in Cape Town, the authentic Blitzboks performed admirably in their Rugby World Cup Sevens seventh-place playoff versus Samoa.

In order to defeat Samoa by a score of 35-5, the South Africans exhibited a substantially improved performance compared to their earlier performances in the competition.

Samoa did all of the defense in the first half, and little changed in the second as the Blitzboks continued to dominate.

The Blitzboks jumped off to an early 7-0 lead thanks to Sako Makata, and while it appeared that Angelo Davids added a second after an incredible dive on the try line, his foot touched the line and the try was disallowed.

However, it didn’t take him long to add his name to the scoresheet, as a superb kick by Selvyn Davids across the middle of the field was intercepted by Davids, who then finished and scored the team’s second try.

Paul Scanlan was yellow-carded on the stroke of halftime, and the hosts were awarded a penalty try to make the score 21-0 at the break. The Samoans’ first genuine opportunity to attack resulted in a missed opportunity, and they trailed 21-0 at the interval.

The Blitzboks took a dominating 35-0 lead after tries from captain Siviwe Soyizwapi and the hard-running JC Pretorius, both of which were converted by Sevens icon Cecil Afrika.

Samoa scored a late consolation try, but the Blitzboks finished the game on a positive note.

Point scorers:

South Africa 35 — Sako Makata, Angelo Davids, Siviwe Soyizwapi, JC Pretorius, Penalty Try; Ronald Brown (3), Cecil Afrika Conversions.

Samoa 5 — Try: Vaa Apelu Maliko