Blitz Boks lose, but make up ground

New Zealand might have pipped the Blitz Boks to the title in the South African leg of the IRB Sevens World Series in a pulsating final on Saturday night, but in the overall standings South Africa are better off than they were before the tournament started.

Coming into Port Elizabeth after two rounds of the series at the Gold Coast and Dubai, South Africa had 29 log points and were 10 points behind leaders Fiji.

After their runners-up place to the All Blacks after losing an epic final 31-26, the Blitz Boks are three points behind New Zealand and Fiji going into the festive season break.

The Kiwis and the Fijians have 51 points apiece in the standings, while South Africa are on 48 points with six rounds to go in the 2011/2012 series.

"We set our goal to reach the final and we played well to do that," said Bok coach Paul Treu. "There were positives to take from this into the next tournament in the new year."

Still, losing on home soil, in front of nearly 30000 fans at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, will leave a bad taste, especially as the home team led 26-24 with 30 seconds to play.

But New Zealand, ever the masters at snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, scored the winning try through halfback Tomasi Cama with only one second on the clock. It was their fourth title in five years in South Africa.

"Finals are about taking opportunities and they took theirs and we missed ours," said Treu. "Hopefully we have learned valuable lessons such as we should have kept the ball in hand when there was only a minute or a minute and 15 to go. But it's experiences like this that the players will learn from."

Until the final, in which the lead changed hands five times, the home team had looked comfortable in every match.

On day one South Africa did not concede a single point against Canada, Kenya and Australia while scoring 104 themselves. They then beat France 26-12 in the cup quarterfinals before edging Samoa 12-7 in a tight semifinal after taking a 12-0 half-time lead. The Boks lost to France in the quarterfinals the week before in Dubai.

Samoa finished third after beating England 17-14 in the bronze final. Wales won the plate with a 48-0 defeat of Fiji, Scotland lifted the bowl and Zimbabwe beat Kenya to the shield.

The fourth round takes place in Wellington, New Zealand, in February.