The Blitzboks continued their superb form with three comfortable pool stage wins on the first day of the New Zealand leg of the World Sevens Series in Hamilton on Saturday.
As a result‚ the Blitzboks will face Scotland in the last eight. If they win their quarterfinal‚ a semi against either last week’s Sydney winners Australia‚ or Kenya awaits the Blitzboks.
SA‚ who were top of the World Series standings on 58 points going into the weekend‚ beat Papua New Guinea 36-5 in their first match and followed that with a 38-0 win over Russia.
Their final Pool B match was against old rivals England‚ but the Blitzboks were too good winning 28-7 after running into a 21-0 half-time lead.
Try glutton Seabelo Senatla scored six tries on the day‚ two in each match‚ to move closer to fourth on the all-time try-scorers with 217‚ just three behind England’s Ben Gollings. He is also the 2017-18 season’s top try scorer with 28 and the leading points’ scorer on 140 in 21 matches.
SA were one of three undefeated teams on day one‚ along with New Zealand and Fiji‚ while the Blitzboks’ 102 points‚ was the most by any team.
Despite their good results‚ captain Kyle Brown was not entirely happy with their early performances against the two minnows in their Pool.
“If you look at the first two games‚ there were a lot of wobbly moments‚ and I don’t know if it is coming from stress‚ or nerves or something else‚” Brown said.
“We are playing in a brand new venue for the first time‚ so perhaps that’s part of it.
“But I’m really happy with the way we settled down in the second half against Russia and then came out against England with a clinical performance.
“That kind of accuracy we showed in the last game today‚ is going to be needed in the knockouts.”
CUP QUARTERFINAL LINEUP
Fiji vs. Samoa
NZ vs. England
Kenya vs. Australia
SA vs. Scotland
- TimesLIVE
Blitzboks cruise through pool matches in Hamilton
As a result‚ the Blitzboks will face Scotland in the last eight. If they win their quarterfinal‚ a semi against either last week’s Sydney winners Australia‚ or Kenya awaits the Blitzboks.
SA‚ who were top of the World Series standings on 58 points going into the weekend‚ beat Papua New Guinea 36-5 in their first match and followed that with a 38-0 win over Russia.
Their final Pool B match was against old rivals England‚ but the Blitzboks were too good winning 28-7 after running into a 21-0 half-time lead.
Try glutton Seabelo Senatla scored six tries on the day‚ two in each match‚ to move closer to fourth on the all-time try-scorers with 217‚ just three behind England’s Ben Gollings. He is also the 2017-18 season’s top try scorer with 28 and the leading points’ scorer on 140 in 21 matches.
SA were one of three undefeated teams on day one‚ along with New Zealand and Fiji‚ while the Blitzboks’ 102 points‚ was the most by any team.
Despite their good results‚ captain Kyle Brown was not entirely happy with their early performances against the two minnows in their Pool.
“If you look at the first two games‚ there were a lot of wobbly moments‚ and I don’t know if it is coming from stress‚ or nerves or something else‚” Brown said.
“We are playing in a brand new venue for the first time‚ so perhaps that’s part of it.
“But I’m really happy with the way we settled down in the second half against Russia and then came out against England with a clinical performance.
“That kind of accuracy we showed in the last game today‚ is going to be needed in the knockouts.”
CUP QUARTERFINAL LINEUP
Fiji vs. Samoa
NZ vs. England
Kenya vs. Australia
SA vs. Scotland
- TimesLIVE
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