Poor start for Blitzboks in title chase

The Springbok Sevens team started their quest to win the HSBC World Series title in the worst possible form, going down 21-7 to hosts USA in their opening Pool B game in Los Angeles.

The Blitzboks need to finish well to keep their slim lead at the top of the standings, but are in a pool of death with the All Blacks and Canada alongside the hosts, and if they don’t make it out the pool, their chances of taking the title will be gone.

It was a slow start for the Blitzboks, and they paid for several mistakes as USA scored two first-half tries and then sealed the match with a Perry Baker special in the second half.

David Still and Joel Schroeder scored in the first half, the second try coming after the Blitzboks lost Shaun Williams to a yellow card for time wasting.

To be honest the Blitzboks were never in the game as the USA forced them into several mistakes and their form was a far cry from their Commonwealth Games form that saw them claim gold in Birmingham.

They will face Canada at 9.26pm (CAT, GMT+2) and then New Zealand on Sunday morning at 0.59am in their next two pool games. All matches are live on SuperSport.