Blitzboks face Argentina in Dubai quarters

The Springbok Sevens team rallied back from 14 points down to score 19 unanswered points and down a tough England side to win Pool D at the Dubai Sevens on Friday night.

The Blitzboks were 14-0 down and were on the receiving end of a harsh yellow card to Ruhan Nel, with England controlling the play, when they rallied back to score at the end of the first half, and then again twice in the second to take the lead.

They executed a crucial turnover in the dying seconds of the game to win a penalty on their own line to win the game in an extraordinary show of grit and character that will do them well for the rest of the tournament.

The Blitzboks now will face Argentina, surprise quarterfinalists after Fiji failed to make the Cup quarterfinals for the first time in the history of the tournament. Argentina had pulled off a stunning 24-21 upset earlier in the day to stop the Olympic champions, and with both sides and France all ending on one win each, the French and Los Pumas qualified on points difference ahead of Fiji.

Nel’s yellow card was costly, as first Ollie Lindsay-Hague caught the Boks napping on the blindside to sprint for the try, and then Dan Norton added a second try – strangely as it seemed there was an obstruction in the midfield, to put them up 14-0 halfway through the first half.

Ryan Oosthuizen touched down in the corner late in the half for a crucial try to put the Blitzboks on the board, before two second half tries by Justin Geduld – both the result of crucial turnovers – saw the Blitzboks into the lead.

Their game against Los Pumas will take place at 9.56am (CAT, GMT+2) on Saturday and will be live on Supersport.