Blitzboks fall at last hurdle
10 Dec 2011
GARETH DUNCAN, reporting from the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, watched the Blitzboks concede a last-minute try in a 31-26 Cup final defeat to New Zealand on day two of the PE Sevens.
The inaugural PE Sevens finished in 20 minutes of madness.
Ahead and during this fixture, the crowd created a magical atmosphere – something that was missing throughout the weekend’s festivities. The St Georges band arrived late during the day and their presence ignited an electric mood around the park, especially with the large All Blacks club who sat themselves in the seats below them. It was a fitting stage for the Blitzboks and New Zealand, who were clearly the two best teams at the tournament.
For New Zealand, it was their eighth consecutive Cup final appearance while it was only the hosts’ third in their history, having previously won one and lost one – both to the former. And on this occasion, the Kiwis went on to win their ninth South African leg Cup title thanks to Tomasi Cama, who scored and converted a try in the last move of the game.
It was a close contest in the first half, which ended 17-14 at the break in the Kiwis’ favour. DJ Forbes led from the front and powered over for the opening try, which was cancelled out by Bernado Botha’s finish. The hosts were then dealt a blow when Boom Prinsloo was yellow-carded for a professional foul at the breakdown.
From a defending scrum, the Blitzboks crumbled and Cama capitalized to dive over for his first five-pointer. Once South Africa returned to seven men, Botha went on to score his fourth try of the tournament – but New Zealand held a slender half-time lead after Frank Halai crossed the chalk.
The Blitzboks dominated the early parts of the second half, surging into a 26-17 lead with Steven Hunt and Cecil Afrika running over from close range. But defensive lapses at the death saw Halai and Cama complete their braces, the latter score a controversial one as a few South African players believed they were tripped during the final play. But Australian referee Anthony Moyes waved play on as Cama broke South African hearts.
The day’s results sees Fiji and New Zealand share the World Series table lead with 51 log points each. The Fijians performed badly on day two, which ended with a 48-0 thrashing from Wales in the Plate final. The Blitzboks find themselves third on the table with 48 log points while England (47) and France (38) trail closely behind.
Earlier in the day, the Springbok Sevens downed Samoa 12-7 in the Cup semi-final.
It was a physical clash and one the hosts handled well as they kept the game tight and capitalised on favourable field position. They spent most of the first half in Samoa’s 22m area, and they finished two scoring opportunities to take a 12-0 half-time lead. A Branco du Preez side step and break opened the scoring while Botha showed great power out wide to finish in the corner. Samoa ended the half with six men when Afa Aiono was sin-binned for striking Kyle Brown with the forearm.
After the second stanza restart, South Africa placed a greater emphasis on restricting the Pacific Islanders – which they did to great effect. Samoa struggled to break into the hosts’ red zone but managed to score a late try through Paul Perez. The Blitzboks, however, still did enough for a place in the Cup final
In their first match of the day, Cecil Afrika scored two crucial tries in the Springbok Sevens’ 26-12 win over France in the Cup quarter-final.
Coming off a 19-5 Cup defeat to the French in the same fixture at the Dubai Sevens last weekend, the Blitzboks ended on top on this occasion thanks to their hometown playmaker. But it didn’t come easy, as an attacking error saw Terry Bouhraoua put the opposition 5-0 ahead.
An Afrika run set up Boom Prinsloo minutes later while the former also dotted down after sniping a gap. But Renaud Delmas finished off a late attack, which capitalised on the hosts’ shaky rearguard. The half-time score read 12-12.
The Blitzboks produced a strong second half showing to seal their place in the top four. Brilliant stepping from Afrika saw the speedster grab his 70th World Series try while Botha finished off proceedings after chasing down a Du Preez chip.
Blitzboks’ fixtures, day two:
Cup quarter-final: South Africa 26 France 12
Cup semi-final: South Africa 12 Samoa 0
Cup final: South Africa 26 New Zealand 31
Click here for all day two fixtures and results
1,234 Comments
Pages: « 1 … 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 [25] Show All
13 Dec 2011, 12:39 pm
@Heavens Game-1196: Gwelo the colonial name, it is Gweru now!
Teich was born in Gweru, Skinstad in Bulawayo…do you know your arse from your elbow?
13 Dec 2011, 12:42 pm
@Transformation-1201: Farkoff Transie… You should know me by now…
This Blonde, blue-eyed colonialist Franco German Soutie Fanagolo KisshenZulu IS everywhere… and comes from everywhere….
Maybe I am actually the tokoloshe too… “tl tl tl tl…”
13 Dec 2011, 12:54 pm
@Heavens Game-1202: Forgot to add Dutchie Rhodesian there too… and “Boor”, apparently what the “English people” first called the Afrikaner and that transmogrified into “Boer” along the way, according to Nama….
13 Dec 2011, 13:01 pm
@Heavens Game-1203:
be nice now.
the anc is giving uncle bob tips on how to stay in power and then continue to abuse it whilst raping the country.
#pupilbecomesmaster
13 Dec 2011, 13:04 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-1204: shut up you fekkin pink tutu-wearing fa got.
13 Dec 2011, 13:07 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-1204: Ehe… And that sneaky move to “throw” Joolyus out of the ANC becomes transparent… He is now a Free Agent, able to fulfil a consulting role with ZANU, no apparent strings attached…. Sneaky, but the all seeing HG eye sees through it all…
13 Dec 2011, 13:08 pm
@mvk-1205:
jomasepoodle.
13 Dec 2011, 13:08 pm
@mvk-1205: Prawny, is that you?
13 Dec 2011, 13:11 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-1207: go jump into your little pink barbie car you fekkin pink tutu-wearing fa got.
13 Dec 2011, 13:12 pm
@Heavens Game-1206: no its the sec general gwede mantashe.
he is a crunt.
13 Dec 2011, 13:14 pm
@Heavens Game-1208:
c’est capo, le séducteur des pekinese.
13 Dec 2011, 13:14 pm
@mvk-1209: easy now son, easy.
13 Dec 2011, 13:16 pm
@rangerman-1212:
the force is strong in this one.
13 Dec 2011, 13:16 pm
@rangerman-1210: Gwede mantashe… Why do I think of female genitalia whenever I hear the sound of that name…? Ag, I dunno…
13 Dec 2011, 13:16 pm
@Heavens Game-1206: just so you know, man1a is a kiwi.
mvk buks virrie kiwis.
13 Dec 2011, 13:17 pm
@Heavens Game-1214: because he is a po es?
@the artist formerly known as gunther-1213: keep the lids on the bins and the dogs in the kennel.
13 Dec 2011, 13:18 pm
@rangerman-1215:
it’s capo.
out on early parole for some festive season larceny.
full of pollsmoor milkshake
13 Dec 2011, 13:18 pm
@rangerman-1210: Its like having a beer with mates and you whisper to eachother in code about the tidy barmade: “Hey Bru, I’d love to poke her in the Gwede Mantashe”
You know what I’m saying…
13 Dec 2011, 13:20 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-1211: Yes…
Le chien…Voulez vous coucher avec moi
13 Dec 2011, 13:20 pm
@rangerman-1212: gunthie the pink tutu-wearing fa got got his hg back….how schweet!!nice to see the fa got back in the arms of hg after hg’s steamy affair with et.
13 Dec 2011, 13:21 pm
@Heavens Game-1218: when the sea is on its head and we cant dive because the rivers have come down, i refer to it as “malema”.
13 Dec 2011, 13:24 pm
@Heavens Game-1218: Then it can go from bad to worse when your mate says back: “H.ell Boet, nought man, I’ll even give her in the Mal.ema”…. Yoh…
13 Dec 2011, 13:27 pm
@mvk-1220: sorry rangerpeos,but post addressed to the pink tutu-wearing ****** and his side-kick.
13 Dec 2011, 13:29 pm
@rangerman-1221: Yes, I catch your drift… Much like seeing the Duzi in full flow and you see all the Malemas floating… And you think to yourself “do I really want to catch E. Coli paddling today”…
13 Dec 2011, 13:30 pm
@mvk-1220: “hg’s steamy affair with et”…. You mean my steamy affair with your Mum?
13 Dec 2011, 13:35 pm
This all makes sense…
Biological miracle…
One fine day in Philly, ET gave birth to Capo…
…Early morning with a huge sense of fullness he went to his outhouse quietly…
and took a dump…
13 Dec 2011, 13:52 pm
@Heavens Game-1226: nice to see that your attempt at joke-making is more in line with your deranged mind unlike your vicious destruction of a man’s memory of his dead mother.i hope karma visits your family in the not too distant future.
13 Dec 2011, 13:59 pm
@mvk-1227: Karma… What’s that… a dead fish?
Come get some… teflon offspring of ExtraThuvi…
No apologies from me, either….
13 Dec 2011, 21:56 pm
that tutu-wearing Nancy girl crybaby cnut, On The Game, seems to be hated by the Kiwis, hated by the Aussies and hated by his own Safas. Noone left to love but himself, no wonder he’s a self-lover of his own domain. What sort of coward makes jokes about someones deceased mother, anonymously online, repeats it, repeats it again, makes a faux-apology, and then calls them ‘emotional’. A cnut rejected by all the other retarded-cnuts.
14 Dec 2011, 08:56 am
@rangerman-1199:
And who brings up his mother everytime Poppa logs in.
How would you feel if someone bought your only just deceased mother into an conversation?
So sounds like family tragedies is fair game on here.
Is that the way you blog Ranger?
14 Dec 2011, 08:58 am
@PrickBoks going South-1193:
I work for a living.
You seem to be confused, actually to the point your probably Ozzie.
14 Dec 2011, 09:01 am
@PrickBoks going South-1229:
Who cares what you think.
Only posts i have seen from you on here has pissall to do with rugby.
Fck off back to your hole weasel.
14 Dec 2011, 09:48 am
@Hurricane-1231:
love your fretwork
then again
@Hurricane-1232:
those multiple posts of yours have pissall to do with rugby
14 Dec 2011, 12:26 pm
@PrickBoks going South-1233:
Just trying to fit in thats all.
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