Blood shines as Blitzboks power to quarters
A beautiful burst of speed by former junior Bok Dalvon Blood gave the Blitzboks a hard-fought win over Australia in their final game of the Dubai Sevens on Friday, securing their place in the quarterfinals after a hard-fought day of rugby.
The Blitzboks started off poorly, losing to Great Britain, but bounced back with a win over Kenya and the last-gasp victory over Australia saw them give themselves a chance to try and add to the three consecutive Dubai Sevens titles they won over the past few years.
They will now face Samoa in their quarterfinal at 09:34 on Saturday as they look to build on their win over the reigning HSBC World Series champions.
The Blitzboks capitalised on the two early yellow cards from Australia, and even though Shakes Soyizwapi missed out on the first try-scoring attempt when his knee touched the sideline in going over, he made no mistake the second time around to open his side’s scoring.
JC Pretorius blasted down the touchline shortly afterwards for the second try to take a 12-0 lead, but then Australia fought back well.
A good dummy by Nathan Lawson and a show of speed from the big man was enough to get them on the board on the stroke of half-time, and a knock back from the kick-off in the second half fell perfectly for Maurice Longbottom to grab and level the scores.
From then on, it was a sparring session as both sides tried to get the upper hand, but the moment finally came for Blood to shine when he got the ball on the outside and he did not have a single doubt as he pinned his ears back to run to score.
The Blitzboks started off poorly, losing to Great Britain, but bounced back with a win over Kenya and the last-gasp victory over Australia saw them give themselves a chance to try and add to the three consecutive Dubai Sevens titles they won over the past few years.
They will now face Samoa in their quarterfinal at 09:34 on Saturday as they look to build on their win over the reigning HSBC World Series champions.
The Blitzboks capitalised on the two early yellow cards from Australia, and even though Shakes Soyizwapi missed out on the first try-scoring attempt when his knee touched the sideline in going over, he made no mistake the second time around to open his side’s scoring.
JC Pretorius blasted down the touchline shortly afterwards for the second try to take a 12-0 lead, but then Australia fought back well.
A good dummy by Nathan Lawson and a show of speed from the big man was enough to get them on the board on the stroke of half-time, and a knock back from the kick-off in the second half fell perfectly for Maurice Longbottom to grab and level the scores.
From then on, it was a sparring session as both sides tried to get the upper hand, but the moment finally came for Blood to shine when he got the ball on the outside and he did not have a single doubt as he pinned his ears back to run to score.
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