Blitzboks drop out of LA Sevens and World Series title race

The Springbok Sevens dropped out of the LA Sevens title race early on Sunday morning (SA time) after losing two of their three Pool B matches and in the process lost their grip on the overall World Rugby Sevens Series too.

The Blitzboks started their defence of the LA Sevens on a disappointing note when they were outplayed 21-7 by the USA in their opening pool clash at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles on Saturday, before they bounced back with a 22-17 win over Canada.

However, a 17-14 defeat to New Zealand demoted the defending LA and World Series title-holders to also-rans in 2022.

The effort from the South Africans lacked their traditional spark and with Dewald Human getting injured against USA and Zain Davids against Canada, it was clear the day was not going their way.

The USA held a 14-0 lead at the break and then extended it to 21-0 before a late Blitzbok try offered some hope to SA, who needed to finish in the top four if they wanted to win the 2022 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

Against Canada, SA  started strongly and set the tone from the start. Muller du Plessis scored in the opening minute, Soyizwapi two minutes later and JC Pretorius just before the break.

The second half was not the best for the Blitzboks, though, as Canada scored early and though Soyizwapi got a second to ease the gap, the Canadians scored again to close it again, but their third try came too late.

SA had to beat New Zealand by 12 points to get into the Cup quarterfinals but did not start well in that match either.

They conceded three tries in the first half to trail 17-0 before they finally showed some grit and grunt, scoring through James Murphy and Shilton van Wyk, but the two converted tries were not enough to overhaul their opponents in black.

Scorers

USA 21 (14) — Tries: David Still, Joe Schroeder, Perry Baker. Conversions: Lucas Lacamp (3).

SA 7 (0) — Try: Sako Makata. Conversion: Shaun Williams

SA 22 (17) — Tries: Muller du Plessis, Siviwe Soyizwapi (2), JC Pretorius. Conversion: Darren Adonis

Canada 17 (5) — Tries: Josiah Morra, Brock Webster, Anton Ngongo. Conversion: Cooper Coats

New Zealand 17 (17)  – Tries: Akuila Rokolisoa, Che Clarke, Lewis Ormond. Conversion: Rokolisoa

SA (0) 14 — Tries: James Murphy, Shilton van Wyk. Conversions: Branco du Preez, Shaun Wiliams