Blitzboks break Cape Town curse with first SVNS title at home in nine years

The Blitzboks overcame Olympic gold medallists France 26-14 on Sunday night to clinch their first Cape Town Sevens title since 2015.

It was a physically brutal match, with South Africa getting the better of most of the collisions. The Blitzboks also took their opportunities well when presented, scoring four well-worked tries.

France were also made to work very hard for their two tries, which came at the start and end of the first half.

After nine years of close calls and heartbreak it was a ruthless SA Sevens performance that saw them dominate the final and keep France scoreless in the second half.

“They say it’s a curse when we play in Cape Town, but we put it to an end,” said Blitzboks co-captain Zain Davids after the final.

“The guys really wanted this and we worked hard. It was a squad effort.

“In the first game, we set the foundation and we kept on building and building. Each one of us deserves a round of applause for all the hard work — the coach, management, everybody.”

It was a clinical showing in front of a boisterous, although not full-capacity crowd at Cape Town Stadium.

Clinical win 

It didn’t go all South Africa’s way in the final, especially in the first half, when France capitalised on SA’s lack of committing numbers to their attacking rucks.

Celian Pouzelgues scored a try in the opening minute of the match.

The Blitzboks hit back quickly with a delightfully timed pass by Dewald Human that hit speedster Donovan Don running a defence-splitting line, dotting down under the sticks.

SA’s second try had less to do with precision and timing and more with brute force as Davids bounced off a few would-be French tacklers on his way to scoring his side’s second try to take the lead.

France though, ended the half the way they started it, with Varian Pasquet benefiting from his teammates’ good work at the ruck and going over in the corner to tie the scores 14-14 at the break.

All four first-half tries were converted by SA’s Ricardo Duarttee and France’s Stephen Parez and Paulin Riva.

Shilton van Wyk showed his pace and determination shortly after the commencement of the second half. Human’s play-making skills set up this try too, this time with an educated grubber kick through which Van Wyk chased swiftly. He was dragged to the ground but it was after he had crossed the whitewash in the corner.

Duarttee, again, had no problem converting from the touchline.

Recent 15s convert David Brits grabbed South Africa’s fourth, with an opportunistic try in the opposite corner to Van Wyk to take the score to 26-14 with five minutes to play.

A yellow card for a late tackle by former skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi threatened to allow the French a sniff of a comeback but steadfast defence and smart game management for the final two minutes saw the Blitzboks hang on.

It was a fitting end to the match, with the player of the final, Van Wyk, booting the ball into the stands.

“The belief is back in the team; this is just the start,” said head coach Philip Snyman after the match.

“There’s still a lot of mistakes out there but we’re not going to focus on the mistakes now.

“We’re going to enjoy the win. I’m really very proud of every player that performed tonight.”

Other results

South Africa reached Sunday’s knockout stage of the Cape Town Sevens with two convincing wins in the pool stage on Saturday. They beat Ireland 36-7 and Argentina 29-5 to assure their passage.

Their semifinal fixture against Spain on Sunday afternoon was a lot more tricky as they had to come back from 12-0 down at halftime, ending up 19-12 winners.

Fiji had no such problems with Spain in the third-place play-off, beating them 47-10 to take the final podium spot.

In the women’s section, New Zealand beat USA 26-12 even though their performance was less than vintage.

There was a shock in the third-place playoff when France defeated last weekend’s champions, Australia 17-14. DM