Home

Fiji sinks Blitzboks hearts by winning the Sydney leg final

Blitzbok
Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Blitzboks narrowly missed out on winning the Sydney leg of the HSBC Rugby Sevens against Fiji in an entertaining encounter. It was the first time that Fiji had won in Sydney with a 12-10 victory over South Africa.

Following a disappointing performance at the Hamilton leg in New Zealand last week, the Blitzboks came out guns blazing in Sydney in their efforts to redeem themselves. They cruised past the pool stage with comfortable victories over Argentina, France and Samoa.

They went on to seal their passage through to the final after victory over the USA in their semi-final clash. The Blitzboks won 19-12 after the score was deadlocked at 12-12 at half-time.

JC Pretorius, Selvyn Davids and Stedman Gans went over for the Blitzboks to win by three tries to two.

In the final, Fiji held off the Blitzboks to claim their first-ever Sydney Sevens title. Both teams won all their matches to reach the final. It was the Napolioni Bolaca show as the Fiji beat South Africa.

Neil Powell’s men committed too many errors which denied them the victory. The Blitzboks had survived an early scare as the Pacific Islanders came close to scoring from kick-off.

Moments later they managed to score a converted try through Bolaca who raced clear from the scrum. JC Pretorius replied for the Boks Sevens to reduce the deficit but Bolaca got the second just on the stroke of half-time as Fiji led 12-5 at the break.

The second half didn’t produce as many tries with Zain Davids going over for the only try in this period to make it 12-10 midway through the second half. However Fiji put on a brave fight to win the final and prevent the Blitzboks from a comeback.

Author

MOST READ