Blitzboks sweat in opening game

The Blitzboks survived a scare and had to come from behind to win their first game in this year’s Dubai Sevens tournament.

The Blitzboks were down 5-12 at halftime, but rallied to win the game 17-12 in the end, defending their line as Kenya attacked at the death.

The slow start wouldn't have impressed coach Neil Powell, who has very high standards for the team, but they struggled to shake off the rust after scoring early on through Ryan Oosthuizen after racking up phase after phase on attack.

No quicker had they settled into the lead and Kenya struck through a power play from Alvin Otieno, who used his strength to bounce off Chris Dry and then motor past Oosthuizen, stepping out of his attempted tackle to score a beautiful try.

A cross kick a minute later was scooped out of the air on the sideline by Vincent Onyala, as the Blitzboks had stopped in their tracks thinking the ball would go out, with the Kenyan running in to put his side in the lead.

Rosko Specman leveled matters with a brilliant piece of individual play early in the second half and then replacement try-scoring machine Seabelo Senatla put the Blitzboks ahead with a cheeky blindside dart that caught the Kenyan side napping.

The Blitzboks had to defend to the last second, but held out for a taxing and tough victory to start the tournament.

The team will play their other pool rivals Spain and England in matches on Friday, taking on Spain at 11:46am (CAT, SA, GMT+2) while the match against England is at 5:42pm.