The Springbok Sevens opened up their Vancouver Sevens campaign with a workmanlike 21-5 win over Great Britain in their opening Pool A match on Saturday night.
The Blitzboks struggled to get going against the physical British side, and made several uncharacteristic errors in the opening minutes, keeping the game tight.
They finally broke the deadlock when Ronald Brown found an opening and carved his way through for the only try of the first half.
Early in the second half Finley Lloyd-Gilmour put the British side on the board as he bumped off Shilton van Wyk in the corner to go over after sustained pressure on the South African line.
But that spurred the Blitzboks into action and a minute later from a turnover ball, Van Wyk scored at the other end after showing his pace to outstrip the defence.
With the game firmly in the bag, the Blitzboks didn’t let up and fought until the end, this time watching as Ryan Oosthuizen came off the bench to add the final try for a strong start to the tournament.
The Blitzboks will now face Spain at 1:41am (CAT, GMT+2) in their next pool game and then New Zealand at 5:40am.
Spain shocked the All Blacks, beating them 12-10 after being 10-0 behind in their opening game.
The playoff rounds are set for Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning South African time.
All games are live on SuperSport.