The Hong Kong curse hit the Springbok Sevens side again as they went down 26-7 to Australia in an unbelievably tame performance to leave their hopes of making the quarterfinals firmly hanging in the balance.
The big scoreline means the Blitzboks not only have to beat New Zealand on Saturday morning in their final game, but also do it with a decent score, given the All Black Sevens have already won both their games, and Australia are likely to beat Uruguay in their final game of the pool.
One out of two on the opening day of the #HSBCSVNSHKG. A huge effort is needed on day two.#PoweredByUnity #Blitzboks pic.twitter.com/aoAfMSFYQS
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) March 28, 2025
Even then it is likely to come down to points difference and the Blitzboks may find themselves one of the lucky losers that makes the quarters, or even out of the Cup portion of the competition.
The performance would not have pleased coach Philip Snyman, especially after they beat Uruguay 40-7 in their opening game of the tournament a few hours earlier.
Selvyn Davids was the only scorer for the Blitzboks in the game, but it came after Australia rushed to a 19-0 halftime lead and added another try to comfortably lead 26-0 before the Blitzboks had any answer.
To Australia’s credit they were superb in keeping the ball during the game and hardly gave the Blitzboks a look in, but the ease with which they cut back inside and dismantled the best defence on the circuit this year will be a massive worry for the coaching staff.
New Zealand beat Uruguay 29-0 after their 21-12 win over Australia to be in the driver's seat in a pool in the tournament they traditionally do well.
The Blitzboks have never won in Hong Kong, while New Zealand sport a massive 12 titles over the years.
So far both Argentina and Fiji have qualified from Pool A, while Great Britain and Kenya have good chances of qualifying from Pool C.
Kenya face France at 4:16am Saturday morning (CAT, GMT+2).
The Blitzboks face New Zealand at 7:43am.