Blitzboks cut flying Fijians down to size

After an opening day victory against Canada at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens, the Blitzboks made it two from two against Fiji in their second pool encounter on a sweltering late Saturday morning with a 17-7 win.

Day two of the Cape Town Sevens — which includes both men’s and women’s fixtures on the schedule — saw supporters streaming into what was the first Sevens series event in the Mother City since 2019.

After a few defensive errors in their 10-point victory against the North Americans on Friday night, the Blitzboks produced a sound defensive display and only conceded a solitary try against the free-running Fijians.

In turn, on attack the Blitzboks produced the goods with a hat-trick of tries. Shilton van Wyk opened the try-scoring for South Africa, with further five pointers from Muller du Plessis and JC Pretorius. Pretorious showed his strength to power over the line to the delight of the partisan crowd.

Before the encounter, Blitzboks assistant coach Philip Snyman predicted the pacific islanders would prove a tough opponent but the home side were able to subdue the Fijians, who had opened their campaign with a convincing 33-0 win over France.

The Blitzboks’ final pool match on Saturday is against France at 5pm and a win would guarantee top spot in Pool A which was the stated pre-tournament objective.

Scorers:

South Africa  17 (12) — Tries: Shilton van Wyk, Muller du Plessis, JC Pretorius.   Conversion: Ricardo Duarttee.

Fiji 7 (7) — Try: Joseva Talacolo. Conversion: Waisea Nacuqu.

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