Blitzboks strike Cape Town 7s gold once again

The Springbok Sevens side became the first team to go back-to-back in the Cape Town Sevens, as they came from behind to beat World Series champions Argentina 21-19 in a pulsating final.

The Blitzboks were behind from the start but rallied exceptionally well in the final minutes to defend their title they won under coach Philip Snyman last year, much to the delight of the local crowd.

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But it wasn’t easy as Argentina controlled most of the game and were possibly the better side for most of the match, turning some Blitzbok errors into points.

The fighting spirit in this Blitzbok team came through in the end, giving Snyman his third tournament victory - and second in Cape Town - since he was appointed coach of the side.

Argentina started the final exceptionally well, with a monster run from World Sevens Player of the year Luciano Gonzalez, who powered over Shilton van Wyk and Selvyn Davids to score an exceptional individual try.

The Blitzboks hit back two minutes later through Donavan Don, taking a ball wide from an intercepted pass for Van Wyk to put Don into space and run around to score under the posts.

Gonzalez was again prominent as he put Marcos Moneta - one of the players who has caused significant damage to Blitzboks hopes in the past - into space after drawing defenders and watched as the 2023 World Series player of the year went in under the posts.

At 12-5 behind the Blitzboks were looking for less errors, but missed tackles cost them again as Moneta opened Argentina’s account in the second half with an exceptional run, beating four tackles on his way to the line.

Down 14 points, the Blitzboks looked for some inspiration, and found it with debutant Sonwabo Sokoyi, who produced a lethal step to floor two defenders, and then sprinted through to give his side hope.

The conversion was telling as it left the Blitzboks five points behind with two minutes to play but Argentina were on attack, and it took a moment of brilliance from Van Wyk to strip the ball from Moneta, with the turnover being sent left and then right back to Van Wyk, who saw a gap and offloaded to a flying Christie Grobbelaar who ran around to score under the posts.

The Blitzboks had to survive the kickoff and while it went long, they pinned Argentina down with Ricardo Duartee winning a crucial turnover penalty to let them end the game and start celebrating before the final whistle was blown.

The weekend was a superb one, especially considering they ended fifth in Dubai, and on the way to the final in Cape Town beat Fiji, Dubai Champions New Zealand, Great Britain and Olympic champions France to get to the showdown with Argentina.

They now join Fiji and New Zealand at the top of the HSBC Sevens World Series standings after two tournaments, with all three sides having 32 points for their efforts.

*Australia reversed the Dubai result to beat New Zealand 26-12 and join them at the top of the women’s standings.