Brave Blitzboks top pool with Kiwi scalp
2 Dec 2011
The Springbok Sevens picked up an impressive 21-5 win over New Zealand to top Pool B at the end of day one of the Dubai Sevens.
With both teams unbeaten in their group, this fixture proved to be the crucial pool decider. New Zealand, as defending World Series champions and Gold Coast Sevens losing finalists, were favourites for the win, but Paul Treu’s charges delivered a strong performance as they claimed a famous triumph.
Skipper Kyle Brown scored his third try of day one while Robert Ebersohn also crossed the chalk from a clever Boom Prinsloo offload to secure a 14-0 lead at the break. It took a strong defensive effort to keep the Kiwis scoreless in the opening seven minutes.
New Zealand captain DJ Forbes scored in the corner to put his team back in the game, but former SA Schools captain William Small-Smith came off the bench to score the match-winning try.
Earlier in the day, the Springbok Sevens picked up their second pool win with a 36-7 thrashing of the USA.
It was a convincing first half display that earned South Africa their 18th consecutive win over America. Brown dotted early before the rush of tries through Branco du Preez, Renfred Dazel and Bernado Botha secured a 24-0 half-time lead.
Prinsloo and Mark Richards continued the onslaught in the second stanza while Peter Tiberio claimed a consolation score for the USA.
South Africa also scored three tries in a 17-5 straightforward victory over Portugal.
Bernado Botha scored the only points in the first half for a slim lead at the break. Brown and Small-Smith dotted down after half-time to seal the win before Portugal grabbed a late try through Frederico Oliveira.
Blitzboks’ results, day one:
South Africa 17 Portugal 5
South Africa 36 USA 7
South Africa 21 New Zealand 5
Click here for all fixtures and results
29 Comments
2 Dec 2011, 07:10 am
go bokke
2 Dec 2011, 07:13 am
so J Fourie lost to stormers and wp
How wp allowed a strength to become a weakness?
Well done Rassie and AC
Whitehead and Sadie …..gone.
J Fourie…..gone…
Vok manne!
2 Dec 2011, 07:28 am
Had a look at the pics of the Bulls training on News 24, they look in great shape, AC hope you are doing the same with the Stormers !!!
2 Dec 2011, 07:30 am
@grant10(grant10)-2:
Without the quality in depth we can kiss any chance of doing well in the S15 goodbye !!
Peter Grant to centre ?
2 Dec 2011, 07:42 am
@grant10(grant10)-1:
I find sevens incredibly boring and hardly ever watch.
@grant10(grant10)-2:
@justrugby(justrugby)-3:
It is indeed a fakkap
Over the last year we have now lost the centres Fourie, Sadie, Bosch and Whitehead and only gained JP du Plessis who has done nothing since being a school boy prodidgy. Players like Brache and Claasens are still too inexperienced for super rugby.
Imo Fourie is the best player in SA- arguably the only bok besides Bismark who might make a world xv at the moment- de Jongh is lightyears behind him and too small and slow to ever reach the standard of Fourie- not saying he is bad in general but only in comparison to Fourie who is very special.
At least our cricket team is doing very well at the moment and should win take all the silverware available this year.
2 Dec 2011, 07:44 am
Good on JF… R11mill a season for two an absolute life-changing opportunity for his family… no-one could have seen that coming…
Suddenly G10′s EMO taunts to Bulls and Shark’s fan’s looking rather foolish (well more than usual)…
Guess all those that hailed JDJ as the next messiah are going to have to stick with their guns…
2 Dec 2011, 07:45 am
@justrugby(justrugby)-4:
PG as inside centre but under strict instructions to never ever, even in case of extreme emergency dare to kick a ball (except for posts)
2 Dec 2011, 07:48 am
Ac and Rassie are proving to be inept at Player Management….
That is a huge part of Rassies role…..WTF is going on there man!!
Rassie….word wakker dikkop
2 Dec 2011, 07:48 am
Ponting still world class
2 Dec 2011, 07:48 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-5:
And with JDEV quite injury proned I think we will severley tested !!
Watch them now give Adi a contract !!!
2 Dec 2011, 07:54 am
Just don’t understand why contracts are even drawn up, Rassie was this not your job ???, I don’t care how much JF is being offered someone should simply say you have a legally binding contract therefore honor it !!!
Or was his contract at a end ??
2 Dec 2011, 07:54 am
@justrugby(justrugby)-10:
It is late in the day if we must depend on a shark reject at centre.
But you are probably right, there are not many other options- Adi better lose some weight though, we cannot afford to have another RJ.
2 Dec 2011, 07:58 am
@justrugby(justrugby)-11:
I think Pissant has said a while ago that they let Sadie go assuming JF will sign again- seems like they only had some sort of a verbal agreementwith him. Not good enough especially with the type of money that the Japanese are willing to pay.
2 Dec 2011, 13:58 pm
Step up Juan de Jongh….
This boy is going to be something special. Great feet, excellent accelerate,excellent technique at tackle point. He is a better 13 that likes of Faingaa,Horne-OZ & Freaun,Ranger(huge error rates)-NZ…Only 13′s better than de Jongh are world incumbents in Smith,Fourie,Ashley Cooper,Kahui.
He is not out of place with understudies in other countries so its his opportunity to step up to the plate.
Fourie was never going to comeback with the type of money they were offering in Japan.
In De Villers,De Jongh,Jacobs…..which other union in SA has better midfield options? Better yet which S15 team has better midfield stocks barring Chiefs who have SBW,Kahui,Willison.
Fourie had a 2 yr contract,it was at its end and he didnt sign on.Fourie is also 28 yrs old-has lost a lot of his speed.Great player though,sad to see him go.But he was always going to go with that type of money in Japan.
I forsee Habana moving back to the midfield at some point.
2 Dec 2011, 18:00 pm
Kiwi’s still suffering from the RWC babalas?
Well done Bokz
2 Dec 2011, 18:06 pm
well done blitzbokke!
2 Dec 2011, 18:18 pm
How the hell did these two top-tier teams end up in the same pool anyways?
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-14:
Never rated Ashley-Cooper.
Think De Jongh could be a boon at 12 for the Boks too should we persist with a deep-standing 10 (which I don’t think we should).
2 Dec 2011, 18:23 pm
Commentators kept Ebersohn had failed with the Cheetahs and has turned his back on Super Rugby. I thought he was great last year. Does anyone know if this is true?
2 Dec 2011, 18:49 pm
@grant10(grant10)-2:
Whithead even said he came to The Sharks because he wanted to know what it was like to play for a professional outfit.
If this is what Coetzee does to his provincial players imagine how he will perform as a potential Bok coach. Strooli has some stiff competition.
2 Dec 2011, 18:51 pm
@Winesy83(Winesy83)-18: @Winesy83(Winesy83)-18: @Winesy83(Winesy83)-18: it’s utter rubbish, he chose to play the 1st three tournaments instead of sitting at home doing nothing and to hawies fourie’s credit he allowed robert to join Sevens.
useless commentators!
2 Dec 2011, 18:56 pm
@Winesy83(Winesy83)-18:check this:
http://www.keo.co.za/2011/10/31/treu-names-provisional-sevens-squad/
2 Dec 2011, 19:04 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-19: you’re such a bigot! tim never said no such.
“I think my performances had
started to plateau a bit at
Western Province and with little chance of game time when all the Bok centres re-signed, I thought move to the Sharks would be just the thing for me, since I’ve always loved the rugby they play.” – tim whitehead
2 Dec 2011, 19:21 pm
Great performance from the guys! Very entertaining to watch too!
Now I know where Eberson has been hiding all this time….
2 Dec 2011, 21:41 pm
That’s what I thought. I was scared these commentators had heard of something new but they seem to be just wrong.
I hope Rob Ebersohn gets a chance for the Boks with Jaque gone. He seems to read the game so well compared to most of other centres.
2 Dec 2011, 22:09 pm
@24 must say I am impressed with william small’s pace and defence. Hopefully the Bulls will give him a chance at some point, but with sadie, venter and serfontein there he should grab the few chances he gets over the next couple of years.
2 Dec 2011, 22:16 pm
So Treu fcks up the AB’s at 7′s.. This Paul Treu is a smart and canny rugby coach and I would be quite happy giving him a go with the 15′s Boks.. we would get way better development and I reckon results too under Treu than under ou doos JW sidekicks Coetsee or Smal.
3 Dec 2011, 02:12 am
Excellent result… Small-Smith looking very strong for a youngster …
3 Dec 2011, 02:56 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-27:
Richards has a good boot… conversions make all the difference in 7′s and 100% for him against the NZ’ers… Treu got the balance of Orks correct in that first half and used his bench excellently…
3 Dec 2011, 09:09 am
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-14:
Interesting comment about Habana. I’ve been thinking the same. He seems to have lost confidence in taking his man on the outside and I think would be better deployed at 13.
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