It wasn’t to be for the Springbok Sevens team after a tough weekend of playing excellent rugby and losing players to injury caught up with them when New Zealand beat the Blitzboks 38-0 in the final of the HSBC Sydney Sevens on Sunday.
The Blitzboks were in superb form leading up to the final, which included a 17-14 win over NZ in their pool clash on Saturday and a big 31-12 victory over Fiji in the semifinals, but they failed to replicate that form in the final.
Losing Siviwe Soyizwapi and Ryan Ooshuizen to injuries earlier on the weekend, Jaiden Baron after the semifinal and Impi Visser early in the final, also made life difficult for the South Africans.
Ill-discipline and defensive errors, two areas where they were good in their first five games, cost the Blitzboks as New Zealand made them pay with their power game while also dominating possession and territory.
Ricardo Duarttee, Christie Grobbelaar, Impi Visser nominated for tournament Dream Team. You can vote for them here: https://t.co/ZeCyAQmb7A#BlitzIgnite pic.twitter.com/umaiSBUuM0
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) January 29, 2023
Roderick Solo, Joe Webber and Sam Dickson scored first-half tries as the All Blacks took a 17-0 lead at the break.
They put up more of a fight in the second half, but the energy wasn’t there and New Zealand scored their fourth try, by Akuila Rokolisoa, with two minutes to go. Amanaki Nicole and Ngarohi McGarvey-Black grabbed two late five-pointers for the Kiwis after more mistakes by the South Africans.
Despite going down to New Zealand, the Blitzboks moved up to second spot on the World Rugby Sevens Series log, leapfrogging the US and Argentina, a huge boost to their aim of finishing the season in the top four. That will mean automatic qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
