Brown bags Blitzboks opening win at the death

Ronald Brown scored a last minute try to give the Springbok Sevens an opening 24-19 victory in the Perth Sevens contest against USA on Friday morning.

In a tight contest where both sides traded blows, Brown’s try settled the game and gave the Blitzboks the start they wanted to start backing up their win in Cape Town in December.

A late burst by the #Blitzboks needed to edge @USASevensRugby in Perth, 24-19. Next up Australia at 13h52 👏 #PoweredByUnity #HSBCSVNS pic.twitter.com/K01czkMZ54

— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) January 24, 2025

After opening the tournament with a blistering linebreak by Ricardo Duartee that led to the first try of the game, Quewin Nortje followed that up two minutes later to put the South Africans further ahead.

But a yellow card for Impi Visser brought the Americans back into the game, with Will Chevalier grabbing a score to send the game into the break at 12-7.

Chevalier added a second shortly after the break to put his side ahead for the first time in the contest before Lucas Lacamp added a third try to the Americans tally and it seemed as if they were heading for a well-earned comeback victory.

The arrival of playmaker Selvyn Davids brought the Blitzboks back into the game, with the dreadlocked star scoring almost immediately after taking the field.

Brown’s linebreak settled the contest and gave the South Africans the victory, but they know they will need to be a lot better when they face Australia at 1.52pm in their second game.

In other matches Uruguay scored the first upset of the tournament as they beat Fiji 24-17, while Kenya lost their opening match 29-14 to New Zealand.