Blitzboks suffer Hong Kong setback, title hopes dwindle

The Hong Kong curse hit the Springbok Sevens side and hit it hard.

As a consequence, the Blitzboks’ hopes in this year’s HSBC World SVNS Series has taken a massive blow.

Fourth before the iconic Hong Kong tournament the Blitzboks struggled as they always seem to do in the island, and not only didn’t give themselves a chance to get their first ever win in Hong Kong, but couldn’t even qualify for the quarterfinals of the Cup tournament.

After their loss to Australia on Friday the Blitzboks needed to beat New Zealand on Saturday to get to the Cup quarters, but lost 17-7 against their arch rivals, and the fact they couldn’t get a bonus point meant that Ireland went through as the lucky loser and South Africa was left with a best possible ninth spot in the tournament.

They won their ninth place play-off against Uruguay 33-7 on Saturday morning and now will face Kenya for the ninth place on Sunday at 6am.

But finishing outside the top eight and top four will be a massive blow to their title hopes, and means they will have a tough pool draw for the next tournament in Singapore next weekend. Of course the new rule that for back to back tournaments there is no quarterfinal and only pool winners advance to the semifinals makes it tougher if the draw is extra tough.

Part of the problem in the Hong Kong tournament has been a lack of ball retention and holes in the defence, as both Australia and New Zealand exploited that.

The team’s strike ability was hampered, so much so that Australia enjoyed a 26-0 lead and New Zealand a 17-0 lead in their games, underlining the problems that coach Philip Snyman has to work out.

Against New Zealand Donavan Don scored at the death to allow it not to be a whitewash but it was little consolation for the performance that was disappointing.

Against Uruguay debutant Gino Cupido was impressive again, scoring a brace of tries to add to his first try Friday, while Impi Visser, Shilton van Wyk and Dewald Human added their names to the scoresheet in the win.

But whatever happens against Kenya, the Blitzboks will see this as a disappointment and are sure to drop down from their fourth spot on the rankings coming into this tournament.