Blitzboks make it two from two by downing Samoa

The Springbok Sevens made it two wins from two as they overcame a physical Samoan side 15-10 in their second pool game at the Singapore Sevens to set up a pool decider showdown with France.

It was a much tougher match than their opening 31-7 win over Spain, with the Samoans trying to impose themselves at the breakdowns and trying to disrupt the Blitzboks from getting quick ball.

In the opening stanzas it worked as Samoa scored first with their first entry into the Blitzboks 22, after staving off several forays from the South Africans. Uaina Tui Sione got his name on the scoresheet.

It didn’t take the Blitzboks long to reply as they went end to end in a sweeping move that saw Quewin Nortje go in at the opposite corner and send the teams into the halftime break level.

The Blitzboks came out more focused in the second half and immediately struck twice to take the game away from the Samoans.

First up it was Selvyn Davids, who looped around with Nortje to stretch the defence, then accelerated to go through the gap to score before a turnover from the ensuing kickoff was deftly worked upfield for Shilton van Wyk to touch the ball down while being held in the air by a Samoan defender.

That should have been it but for a wrongfully issued yellow card for Rosko Specman when Samoa lost the ball forward into him and it was adjudged a deliberate knockdown, even though replays showed this to be wrong.

With that Samoa had the advantage and scored at the end through Daniel Patelesio to make the scoreline look more respectable.

The Blitzboks now face France on Saturday morning at 8.24am to complete their pool fixtures and are virtually assured of a spot in the quarterfinals.

In other games at the tournament Australia caused a major upset by downing log leaders Argentina 26-19 in their opening game of the day, while Fiji were poor, losing 33-14 to USA and then 19-14 to Great Britain in their two games of the first day.