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
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11 Dec 2011, 11:23 am
@grant10-449:
Look at the positives grantie.
Your Team is extremely competitive, and was a little unlucky. The wins will come…………………………………………..and soon.
Paul True is moulding a very good unit here.
11 Dec 2011, 11:25 am
@cane-451: yes…very proud of PE and the boys….
11 Dec 2011, 11:29 am
@grant10-452:
And hey…………………………………………….the punters sure got their money’s worth.
Drama…………………………………………like a Greek Tragedy
11 Dec 2011, 11:34 am
I stopped visiting this site just after the world cup began because the over-the-top bickering was driving me up the wall. This is the first time I’ve been back since and I’m amazed that instead of hostilities ending, the situation seems to have got worse.
All this name-calling and point scoring is a drag. I’m a Kiwi but enjoy checking out the opinion of some S Africans who post here because they clearly know the game, and I find their perspective throws a whole new light on things. But some NZ and Bok fans enter into absolutely puerile, ***-for-tat, foaming-at-the-mouth dog-fights that do no one any credit. A lot of it is the stuff I used to see in the school playground as an 8-year-old. It’s hard to believe grown, intelligent people can behave in this manner.
It makes me wonder whether any of these people have ventured beyond the borders of their homeland or ever mixed with supporters from other nations. I’ve met a few S Africans after matches in NZ and abroad and we’ve always enjoyed each other’s company. When you meet the guys from “the other side” in the flesh you soon realise we all have a lot more in common than might first be imagined.
Remember when our teams weren’t allowed to play each other? What a horrendous gap that left in test rugby. We should be grateful those days are gone and appreciate what we have. I guess what I’m trying to say is NZ-SA rivalry is one of the great sporting contests and it ought to produce a bit more respect and a lot less hate between the fans. After all, this is rugby, not football. Let’s not travel as far down the path of contempt as so many fans of that code have ventured.
Regarding the sevens final: I thought NZ were incredibly lucky to win. The try that sealed it was extremely fortuitous. To me, man for man, SA looked to have the superior team but made a huge mistake in kicking the ball away twice in the last few minutes. The Boks looked so threatening with ball in hand that I’m sure they’d have scored at least another try, to sew it up, had they chosen to run it on those two occasions.
In the last few years SA have had some exciting sevens sides but I think this may be the best yet. Plenty of pace and lots of guys who can beat a man. On the other hand, NZ appear desperately short of pace and don’t look as strong as the NZ sides of recent times. We hung tough today and had some luck, but we’ll need more than that to win any more tournaments this year.
11 Dec 2011, 11:35 am
I had to be at a dinner dance at 19 h 30….refused to budge as final had to be watched! Arrived halfway through some sppeches……a little heartbroken and shell shocked !
A few beers later all was good again though……high theatre……
such is life……take the sweet with the sour…
With my beloved Man U crashing out of Europe , coupled with the bloody WC shambles…..and the Stormers and WP semi final loss…..I certainly have had better sporting years!
11 Dec 2011, 11:38 am
@Fumbler-454: good post my man…..respect
11 Dec 2011, 11:41 am
The clear and screaming question of this day and past century, even for the many restricted Keo adherents, should be:
Does pure STATISTICS, only, ever tell the TRUE and TOTAL story of a Basil D’Oliveira or a Sir Garfiekd Sobers or a Sir Clyde Walcott or a Sir Everton Weekes or a Sir Frank Worrell or a Sir IVA Richards or a Sunil Gavaskar or the early Sachin Tendulkar or scores more(all of whom were not allowed to play in the total world of cricket in all or some of their lifetime)?
What would Dolly’s TRUE average have been if he was allowed to play as one of the most promising 20 year old cricketers of his time for his country, SOUTH AFRICA?
Did the likes of “Karless” and Smith and other aryan S.Africans, since 1992, ever suffer these restrictive and limiting and denying impediments on their cricketing lives or did they, in fact, play many times against the modern day minnows of Bangladesh or Kenya or UAE or Zimbabwe?
The TOTAL picture of any person’s time in his or her pursuit of success of choice has ALWATS to be seriously considered but in some cases cannot because of the infringements placed by ssocial evils like APARTHEID.
This, the holistic approach, has always to be taken when South Africans are involved in the equation.
In short, for them PURE STATISTICS amounts to an exercise in total FUTILITY. It becomes meaningless in considering the WHOLE.
The days are early and long, so I am off to enjoy it while you amuse yourself with worthless insults of all of HUMANITY.
11 Dec 2011, 11:43 am
@Fumbler-454:
Yes Fumbler……………………………………..I am eight years old.
8)
11 Dec 2011, 11:46 am
And Fumbler, for what it’s worth.
Don’t make that your last post.
11 Dec 2011, 11:46 am
NZ MUST be the BEST team in the world in the FOOTBALL CODES:
Rugby Union: current World Champs, and #1 ranked.
Rugby League: current World Champs (twice in a row now – take that Australia)
Soccer: ONLY UNBEATEN TEAM at Fifa World Cup 2010.
Rugby 7s: World series champs
Rugby Union under 20s world champs 4 times back-to-back
Aussie Rules: NZ are #2 ranked team
Perhaps we should also take up American football??
11 Dec 2011, 11:48 am
@grant10 456
Cheers. I remember the first time I gained respect for SA rugby. It was in 1965 and I was six. My dad took me to watch Dawie de Villiers’ Boks train in Wellington. He pointed to this huge man, called Piet Botha, and said he was the tallest guy in the team. I checked my clipping of the squad that I’d cut from the newspaper and was astonished to see Botha was listed as 6ft 5in. I couldn’t believe it. Here was a man who was a whole inch taller than Colin Meads! Talk about stunned. It was unbelievable. I’ve been in awe of the Springboks ever since, lol.
11 Dec 2011, 11:48 am
@grant10-456:
You do know for me it unfortunately has been a gloriously successful cycle, and especially the last two years, all because I take cognizance of the writing on the walls of S African society and I am principled as a human.
11 Dec 2011, 11:52 am
@Delki-460:
To be fair Delboy,
we do suck at Aussie Rules and Gaelic Football.
11 Dec 2011, 11:54 am
@Delki 460
Come on, mate. In the league, we lost to the Aussies in the one-off test this year, then were beaten by them and the Poms in the recent four nations and didn’t even make the final, lol. They were woeful. Hardly a team to brag about.
As for the Aussie Rules, we may be No 2 but only about three teams play it.
And as I don’t believe Aussie Rules and league are even played in SA it’s hardly relevant to bring them up on a SA rugby union site is it?
11 Dec 2011, 11:55 am
@ET.-462: well done…. you just need to learn to practice that non racial approach to life…..seems you bloody good at talking about it but less than perfect at actually living the principles….your references on this site to Ayrans and super blacks shows me you a bit shy of actually walking all your talk….
11 Dec 2011, 11:57 am
@Fumbler-461: my intro to rugby was 1976 Kiwi tests in Sa….loved the game ever since
11 Dec 2011, 11:57 am
till later….off to airport
11 Dec 2011, 11:58 am
@Hell’s Shame-343:
” Not partial to them slinky eyes… No matter how much they fall at my feet as a blond, blue-eyed aryan….”
Cogent shades, sickeningly, of are you “ethnic Black?” The words of a supreme RACIST are quoted.
Has the E and the T ever been incorrect in calling a spade a spade(and not even a shovel)?
I am off.
11 Dec 2011, 11:59 am
Fumbler don’t spoil my fun…………
11 Dec 2011, 11:59 am
@trupisero-444:
11 Dec 2011, 12:02 pm
@Fumbler-454:
Great post.
11 Dec 2011, 12:02 pm
@Fumbler-454:
Excellent post, Fumbler.
I’m a regular reader of Keo, but only a very occasional poster. The level of vitriol here stuns me. Nothing wrong with banter, but ye gawds, does it cross the line with big brass bells on.
It’s not unusual, though, just go anywhere on the internet and see the hatred when people with different opinions can hide behind anonymity.
I sometimes think the only way humankind is going to be united is if we’re attacked by an alien species.
But that sort of thing only happens to Grant10.
11 Dec 2011, 12:04 pm
@grant10-465: you going to get it now !!
11 Dec 2011, 12:06 pm
@grant10-465:
As always it is NOT my fault if anti-racist, too often, equates to seemingly anti-white in South Africa.
That problem belongs to your ‘aryans’. Your DA should address it as a moral obligation to the S.African society.
The pursuit of happiness in a free and ‘democratic’ society belongs to all and not to those who have acquired wealth in too many questionable ways for too long and still control the present economy.
11 Dec 2011, 12:07 pm
@Hooker22-472: loloolololololol you read about the aliens and the probing, that had me in hysterics.
11 Dec 2011, 12:10 pm
A Great Dane is seemingly more ‘huggable’ than a restrictted, misguided and largely dumb S. African(?)Dane.
11 Dec 2011, 12:11 pm
@Hooker22 472
Yes, over-the-top keyboard warriors are one of the less endearing features of the internet. Nothing wrong with a difference of opinion but why let your standards slip and act like an imbicile simply because you’re anonymous? The upside, however, is that amidst all the shameful rants, the good rugby posts here are d-mned good.
11 Dec 2011, 12:13 pm
@Treehugger-475:
Always wondered about ET’s long, glowing finger.
And by ET, I mean he of Mr Spielberg’s creation, not the frothing-mouthed mad scientist who rambles on ad nauseum from Philly.
11 Dec 2011, 12:16 pm
@Fumbler-477:
Indeed. And you get to know the names of the reasonable and knowledgeable posters, as well as the trolls – makes skim-reading the posts much quicker zipping past the latter. And appreciating the former.
11 Dec 2011, 12:18 pm
@ET.-476: You really are a miserable person devoid of any sense of humor, and so I am half Danish and half South African, what of it ?
I would prefer you not to address any posts to me or about me, as for dumb, well, thats fine with me as well as your opinion means nothing to me and it would seem to no one else on this site
11 Dec 2011, 12:20 pm
@Hooker22-478:
11 Dec 2011, 12:21 pm
@Treehugger-480: Some people just need a high five……..in the face……..with a chair…….
11 Dec 2011, 12:21 pm
That movie had its first release on my birthday and is about me glorifying the innocence of youth, as opposed to the bigotry of ‘aryan’ adults.
The young ones tried to save humanity from wantonly destroying other life forms for no thoughtful reason.
11 Dec 2011, 12:25 pm
So only ” miserable person” hugs a Great Dane? I am truly homoured.
Really gone now.
Sorry ‘Tree’, you asked for it(to be peed on) and now you cannot take it.
11 Dec 2011, 12:29 pm
@Treehugger-480:
How tellingly false of you.
Means seemingly enough to entice a very angry response.
Bye now half ‘n half(if you know whhat that means).
11 Dec 2011, 12:30 pm
@trupisero-482:
11 Dec 2011, 12:33 pm
@Treehugger-480:
His sense of humour is an epic fail.
In fact, he has a sense of humour like a tube of toothpaste.
You have to squeeze it out.
11 Dec 2011, 12:35 pm
@trupisero-482: No my new word is the PK one, love it.
11 Dec 2011, 12:36 pm
The true, blue and apparent fail safe ‘aryan’ response/excuse of “no humour” always makes its appearance. Yet there is much unanswerable humour even in a lot of my truth.
Ever read of the notion that many a TRUE word is said in JEST?
I seem to do it so often that it flies too often above your heads because of the anger those TRUTHS elicit.
11 Dec 2011, 12:40 pm
@Treehugger-488: What about a PW? The mother of PKs
11 Dec 2011, 12:40 pm
@IAAS-487: No an empty tube of toothpaste, I have always found every one has a redeeming quality, even here on keo, but seems i am proven wrong.
11 Dec 2011, 12:42 pm
Tis the season of goodwill!
11 Dec 2011, 12:42 pm
@trupisero-490: ok what is a PW, apart from a part president.
11 Dec 2011, 12:43 pm
oops past
11 Dec 2011, 12:45 pm
@Dawn-492: Pielewapper
11 Dec 2011, 12:45 pm
@Dawn-492: you have to know i had the tiniest of giggles at that.
11 Dec 2011, 12:48 pm
@trupisero-495: : Pielewapper, and in english that is ? cant very say stop being such a pielewapper when i dont know what it is.
11 Dec 2011, 12:56 pm
@Treehugger-497: That would probably translate as a cockslap
11 Dec 2011, 13:57 pm
Bad Boys
Bad Boys…
What you gonna do….,
What you gonna do
When HG comes for you
11 Dec 2011, 14:01 pm
@ET.-468: Yeah… Can live with Supreme… Get that? Supreme… And don’t you ever forget it
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