A beautiful burst of speed by former Junior Bok Dalvon Blood gave the Blitzboks a hard-fought win over Australia in their final game of the Dubai Sevens on Friday, securing their place in the quarterfinals after a hard-fought day of rugby.
The Blitzboks started off poorly, losing to Great Britain but bounced back with a win over Kenya and the last-gasp victory over Australia saw them give themselves a chance to try and add to the three consecutive Dubai Sevens titles they won over the past few years.
The Blitzboks will now face Samoa in their quarterfinal at 9:34am on Saturday as they look to build on their win over the reigning HSBC World Series champions.
The Blitzboks capitalised on the two early yellow cards from Australia, and even though Shakes Soyizwapi missed out on the first try-scoring attempt when his knee touched the sideline in going over, he made no mistake the second time around to open his side’s scoring.
JC Pretorius blasted down the touchline shortly afterwards for the second try to take a 12-0 lead, but then Australia fought back well.
JC Pretorius is having a day out there today ??@Blitzboks | #Dubai7s | #HSBC7s pic.twitter.com/lciDd9hjzZ
— World Rugby 7s (@WorldRugby7s) December 2, 2022
A good dummy by Nathan Lawson and a show of speed from the big man was enough to get them on the board on the stroke of halftime and a knock back from the kickoff in the second half fell perfectly for Maurice Longbottom to grab and level the scores.
From then on it was a sparring session as both sides tried to get the upper hand, but the moment finally came for Blood to shine when he got the ball on the outside and he never had any doubt as he pinned his ears back to run to score.
How fresh is this?
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) December 2, 2022
Something new brewing....@ASICSRugby @WeBuyCars_SA @CapeTown7s pic.twitter.com/sDuCigADwl
DUBAI SEVENS QUARTERFINALS
8:28am Argentina v Ireland
8:50am USA v Australia
9:12am France v New Zealand
9:34am South Africa v Samoa
Semifinals from 12:17pm
Final at 5:26pm