Blitzboks stutter in London but reach quarterfinals

Cape Town – Losing pool matches is not something that happens often to the Blitzboks, but they dropped their final match in London on Saturday and still emerged winners of Pool D.

Losing 21-12 to Samoa in game three was a deflating way to end what had been a good day for the defending World Series Champions, but it was irrelevant in the final analysis.

Earlier wins over Russia (31-0) and Canada (17-7) coupled with the other teams taking wins off each other, meant that top spot in the Pool was secured before the final match.

Neil Powell’s side now face New Zealand in the quarterfinals after the Kiwis were runners-up to current World Series leaders Fiji in Pool A.

With Fiji leading the World Series by four points over SA, the Blitzboks have to beat New Zealand to keep their hopes of retaining the title alive.

Fiji beat NZ 27-7 in their Pool decider and will face Canada in the last eight, which is almost a guaranteed win. There is potential for SA and Fiji to meet in the London final now that they have moved into opposite sides of the play-off draw.

"It was disappointing losing to Samoa, but even more so because we did not bring the effort as a team,” Powell said.

“That is not who we are as a team. We could not find any momentum all day. Against Samoa our problems were compounded by lots of individual errors."

Powell said they would regroup and come back stronger.

"This is now time to get together as a team, regroup and show that we really want to remain the champions. The quarterfinals will be tough, as New Zealand play with a lot of confidence. We need to play at least four times better than today if we want to make an impact on Sunday," Powell said.

Against Russia, the Blitzboks scored four tries in the first half to lead 24-0 at the break. The second half saw a better defensive effort from Russia, with only Zain Davids managed to cross their line.

Against Canada, a try by Ryan Oosthuizen gave his team a 7-0 lead at halftime, before a try by Philip Snyman edged the Blitzboks 12-0 ahead. Canada scored a converted try with a minute left on the clock, but Werner Kok eased the worries with a try and a 17-7 win.

The Blitzboks conceded two early tries against Samoa, with a number of weak tackles exploited by their opponents. Heino Bezuidenhout pulled one back for his team, but a third by Samoa jumped them into a 21-5 lead at the break.

The second half saw a number of unforced errors, but a jewel by Seabelo Senatla, in which he raced through from 80 metres out raised hopes of a comeback but Samoa held out.