Blitzboks open Cape Town campaign in style

A brace of tries by newcomer Quewin Nortje saw the Springbok Sevens side open their Cape Town SVNS campaign with a workmanlike 19-5 win over Great Britain in their opening game.

Nortje, who was one of the stars of the Blitzboks’ win in Dubai last weekend on debut, scored first and last as the Blitzboks overcame a plucky British side to take the first step in their home tournament.

Given they last won here in 2015 there is a lot of hope after the Dubai success that they may be able to break their duck this year.

Nortje’s opener was a good try, but the second was made by Selvyn Davids, who evaded, stepped and dummied three players before a basketball pass to Nortje to score.

Inbetween Justin Geduld scored just after the break for the second try.

The Blitzboks next face USA at 14.12 and then their final pool game against Ireland at 19.36 (CAT, GMT+2) this evening.

Ireland opened their account with an impressive win over USA, beating them 31-0 to lay down a marker and sound a prominent warning to the Blitzboks.

While most of the action went as expected, the early shock of the tournament was when Canada downed New Zealand on pitch two, winning 19-7.

The Canadians almost beat the Kiwis in Dubai, eventually losing 26-21 last week but this time around made no mistake to shock the All Blacks early on.

France also caused a minor upset by beating Fiji 17-14 in their opener.

In the Women’s tournament, the Springbok Women’s Sevens side disappointed as they fell to Dubai semifinalists France 29-7 in their opening match.