Blitzboks stumble against inspired Ireland at Rugby World Cup Sevens

Thalia Costa of Brazil during the Challenge cup quarterfinal on day 2 of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 13/16 place playoff between Japan and Brazil at on 10 September in Cape Town. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

11 Sep 2022

South Africa lost out as Ireland upset the Blitzboks 24-14 to comfortably seal their place in the semifinals of the Rugby World Cup Sevens this weekend.

Neil Powell’s nine-year tenure as Blitzboks coach will fizzle out on the final day of Rugby World Cup (RWC) Sevens 2022, with two matches in the fifth- to eighth-place playoff section.

South Africa's Sevens team was a tournament favourite, which they backed with a convincing 32-5 win against Chile in the Round of 16 match on Friday evening. But now they play Argentina on the final day with, at best, a fifth place finish.

The disappointing result against the Irish follows the Blitzboks’ recent woeful performance two weeks ago, where they finished 13th in the Los Angeles leg of the World Series — their poorest finish under Powell’s tenure.

Ireland's Matthew McDonald fends off South Africa's Christie Grobbelaar. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

The 13th place meant the Bok Sevens squandered the opportunity to seal the World Series title, after leading for eight of the nine tournaments.

The side does, however, end the season with some silverware, after clinching gold in the Commonwealth Games.

But a season that could have, and probably should have, ended with at least two trophies will now only be filled with one.

Irish dominance

Ireland kicked the very first kickoff of the match straight into touch, one of very few mistakes they made throughout their quarterfinal encounter against the Blitzboks.

South Africa responded with a crucial error of their own when Selvyn Davids failed to find touch with a penalty.

Ireland made the most of the mistake, going coast to coast with the Blitzboks defence, before Mark Roche dotted down under the sticks for the Irish to take an early 7-0 lead.

Ronald Brown during day two of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in Cape Town. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

The Blitzboks spurred an opportunity to hit back immediately when Ronald Brown overcooked a pass to Sako Makata, who had an open tryline ahead of him, one of several costly mistakes made by the Blitzboks.

Trying to relieve the pressure on their line, Ireland overshot a lineout throw in their own 22, which JC Pretorius collected before being stopped inches from the line.

From the resulting ruck, Brown corrected his earlier error by drawing and passing early to give Muller du Plessis an easy run-in. Brown converted the try to make the half-time scoreline seven apiece.

The Blitzboks lineout misfired twice early in the second half, which Harry McNulty capitalised on to score an easy try.

The home side then spilled another ball in their 22, this time Pretorius was the guilty party. The Irish hopped on the resulting ball before flyer Jordan Conroy straightened the line and dotted down untouched.

Conroy then made it two in two minutes, with an excellent finish in the left-hand corner, to stretch the lead to an unassailable 24-7, with less than a minute to play.

With Conroy’s brace sealed in the 14th minute, the writing was on the wall for South Africa, as the Cape Town crowd began to make their way to the nearest exits.

South Africa's Selvyn Davids (right) tackles Ireland's Jordan Conroy in the Rugby World Cup Sevens quarterfinal. Muller du Plessis (left) looks on. (Photo: Leila Dougan).

With time out on the clock, Mfundo Ndhlovu put some gloss on the scoreline to take the final score to 24-14.

The win for Ireland means they will take on New Zealand in the RWC Sevens semifinal clash on the last day.

Earlier, the All Black Sevens side beat Argentina 12-5 in their quarterfinal meeting.

Fiji and Australia will play in the other semifinal.

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Women’s Sevens: Roos inspires Imbokodo

A Nadine Roos masterclass motivated the Springbok Women’s Sevens team to a superb 27-0 victory over Colombia in the 13th/16th-place playoff match.

“She’s absolutely world class. We’ve got one or two players that could be playing for the top four teams in the world, and she’s definitely one of those players,” head coach Paul Delport said of Roos after their win.

Roos’ jet shoes and silky feet were too quick to handle for the scrambling Colombians. She ran in two first-half tries and added another brace in the second half to collect four excellent tries for Imbokodo — the most tries scored by a South African woman in a RWC Sevens tournament.

This game [against Colombia] is what we needed to build a bit of synergy and confidence. I still feel we’re very individualistic and I’d like us to come together a bit more. But this is [only] the third time this team’s played together,” said Delport.

Co-captain Mathrin Simmers rounded off the scoring in the 12th minute of the match to complete a five try to nil pile-on against the Colombians.

“We came back as a group very well. Giving a performance out there that we as a team stand for. Hopefully we can build on that. This win is a massive positive for the team, something we needed [to] boost our confidence. It shows we’re going in the right direction,” Roos said after the encounter.

“If we stick to our processes, the result will follow. That’s exactly what happened, and we got the win and gave the fans something to cheer for.”

Fans JP Louw and Randall de Vos enter the DHL Stadium at the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 on 10 September 2022 in Cape Town. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

Japan heartbreak

Earlier in the day, Imbokodo were left heartbroken when they spilled several opportunities to beat Japan in their Challenge Cup quarterfinal clash. The Springbok women eventually lost 14-12, having led 12-7 at half time. This followed their 27-0 loss to France on Friday.

“After the loss against France last night and the disappointing loss this morning against Japan, we regrouped and spoke about what we need to work on. Our execution was one of the biggest points we wanted to work on, we wanted to round off [our play] with some tries,” said Roos after Imbokodo’s victory over Colombia.

Japan was always going to be a tough match for the Bok Sevens women. The Japanese ladies took first place in the Challenger Series in August to claim a place as one of the core Sevens teams for next year’s World Series — a tournament where South Africa finished ninth.

“What the ladies did this morning, they were very disappointed, but I told them they’re only disappointed because they put themselves in the game,” said Delport.

Thalia Costa of Brazil during the Challenge Cup quarterfinal on day two of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 13/16-place playoff between Japan and Brazil on 10 September in Cape Town. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

“The Japanese team is not a bad team, [in fact] they’re a really good rugby team — [they have] a full-time programme. They just won the Challenger Series and qualified for the World Series, so they’re riding on a lot of confidence.

“A big positive for me this morning was how disappointed we were to lose. In the past, it was okay to lose. It’s not okay to lose any more. That just shows the growth of this group and of these individuals.” DM

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South Africa

Irish dominance

Women’s Sevens: Roos inspires Imbokodo

Japan heartbreak