England bliksem the Blitzboks again

16 April 2017 - 02:00 By Craig Ray
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MAN ON A MISSION: Blitzbok Tim Agaba dives over the try line during South Africa's game against the US at the 2016 Sevens rugby tournament match at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
MAN ON A MISSION: Blitzbok Tim Agaba dives over the try line during South Africa's game against the US at the 2016 Sevens rugby tournament match at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
Image: AFP/MARK RALSTON

The Blitzboks lost against England in their final pool match but still qualified for the quarterfinals of the Singapore leg of the HSBC World Series yesterday.

The Blitzboks went down 17-7 to the side that has caused them trouble all season, despite the fact that South Africa had made seven consecutive finals before this weekend.

Earlier wins over Japan (52-0) and France (10-7) were enough to ensure the Blitzboks made the last eight before they came up against England in their final pool match.

South Africa have lost only five matches out of 45 during the season, but four of those losses have occurred against the English.

The Blitzboks will now take on Australia in the quarterfinals today. The winner of their match will play against the winner of Fiji and the USA in the semifinals.

Going into the tournament, the Blitzboks held a 23-point lead over Fiji at the top of the standings. They will be hoping the USA help their surge for the overall title by beating the islanders and they do the business against the Aussies.

New Zealand versus Canada and England against 2016 Singapore winners Kenya completes the quarterfinal lineup today.

Re-energised Rebels pull through

The Rebels produced a fighting response to a tumultuous week with a tense 19-17 victory over the Brumbies for their first win of the Super Rugby season yesterday.

The Rebels, stung by attempts to cut them from next season’s competition, fought back to win with a penalty goal by Reece Hodge in the final minutes in Melbourne.

The Australian Conference-leading Brumbies, who outscored the home side three tries to one, led for most of the second half before Hodge kicked the Rebels to victory.

The Rebels’ spirited performance comes at the end of a week when the Australian Rugby Union said that either the Perth-based Western Force or Rebels would be culled from the revamped2018 southern hemisphere tournament.

Melbourne held on for a gritty victory despite three acts of ill-discipline nearly costing them the match after Colby Fainga’a, Lopeti Timani and Fereti Sa’aga were all yellow-carded.

The Rebels scored their only try through winger Sefa Naivalu, muscling past four opponents to score after 14 minutes.

The home side hung on to a 13-12 lead at half time, but fell behind when winger Henry Speight scored his second try minutes after the resumption.

The match was on a knife edge for the rest of the second half with Hodge kicking two pressure penalty goals to get the Rebels home.

The loss ended the Brumbies’ run of 10 successive wins over Australian opposition although they are still at the top of their country’s conference while the Rebels are at the bottom despite their win.

The Brumbies are away to defending champions Wellington Hurricanes on Friday, while the Rebels travel to South Africa to face the Sharks on April 23.  — AFP

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