More heartbreak for Blitzboks
13 May 2012
The Springbok Sevens were beaten 19-17 by England in the Plate semi-finals on day two of the London Sevens.
The Blitzboks led 17-15 against England as the final hooter sounded, and looked like advancing to the Plate title-decider. However, a poor defensive effort at the death saw Bishops old boy Mat Turner run away for the match-winning score – a move that was created from behind their own tryline.
It was closely-contested match as South Africa led 10-5 at half-time. A Cornal Hendricks brace kept Blitzboks ahead as England crossed the chalk via Tom Powell.
Sam Edgerly gave the hosts the lead as he dived over under the posts. A clever chip from Philip Burger set up Kyle Brown out wide, which seemed like the defining try before Turner’s late effort sealed an unlikely win.
Earlier in the day, the Springbok Sevens suffered a 36-0 defeat against New Zealand.
The Kiwis eased to the convincing victory as they ran in six tries. Ardie Savea grabbed a brace in the first half, while skipper DJ Forbes completed his double in the second stanza. The Blitboks struggled on attack, while they were also weak on defence as they couldn’t build any all-round momentum.
Meanwhile, New Zealand were crowned the 2011-12 World Series champions with their run into the Cup semi-finals in London. Although they were eliminated by Fiji after a 31-7 defeat, they still accumulated enough log points to secure top place in the overall standings.
Blitzboks’ fixtures (day two):
Cup quarter-final – South Africa 0 New Zealand 36
Plate semi-final – South Africa 17 England 19
Click here for all day two fixtures and results
10 Comments
13 May 2012, 12:21 pm
No surprise here. These Blitzbok imposters are pathetic.
13 May 2012, 12:28 pm
Paul Treu has lost the plot. His halftime chat was zero technical but more emotional and inspirational, while The Kiwi coach was so technical and clear with his game plan. The players r also so average
13 May 2012, 13:04 pm
phhht of course we did.
13 May 2012, 15:51 pm
Pygmy Boks getting moered and zipped … no chance in hell of even featuring at the Olympic games.
13 May 2012, 16:08 pm
Paul Treu still sticks to the choice of diminutive but quick players all good and well but they cannot compete with the equally quick and physical players of for instance the Kiwis and Fidji – the Boks will never be a super 7s power again unless they have a coach who understands this – If Treu cannot have a mind shift he needs to be replaced.
13 May 2012, 18:19 pm
Treu is a poor coach. Been saying this for years now… He doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing and neither do the players really.
13 May 2012, 19:07 pm
Heartbeak …. Don’t you mean Heartbreak?
Also the score was 17-12 to the Blitzbokke before “Give the ball to Turner” did his thing.
13 May 2012, 22:22 pm
NZ have won the whole comp series 10 times out of 13 attempts. That says it all.
13 May 2012, 23:37 pm
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-8:
It seems Nz is one of the few countries that recognize the benefits of sevens in the overall scheme of Rugby development. Can trot off a few names that have come through the sevens system to Abs: Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen,Corey Jane, Joe Rocokoko, Victor Vito, Eric Rush, Jose Gear, Rico Gear…must be more.
I also remember Zinny and Buck Shelford going up to Hong Kong one season and taking the title.
14 May 2012, 15:36 pm
I understand that SA discard Matt Turner scored the winning try for England. Ironic.
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