It was a bumpy start for the Springbok Sevens at the Cape Town SVNS tournament on Saturday morning as they battled past Great Britain winning their first match 19-5.
When the Dubai winners jogged out onto the hallowed turf of the DHL Stadium, they received a rousing reception from their home supporters, and the cheers of the crowd were rewarded early after the start when the Blitzboks took the lead through a well-worked try down the touchline.
They received the kickoff in a swirling wind, but did well to hang onto possession as they started putting their opponents under some early pressure. Playmaker and captain Selvyn Davids was prominent in the early attacks when a rolling kick of his put Britain under pressure at the back.
The visitors were forced to kick possession away and from there the home side attacked again, working the territory down the touchline for youngster Quewin Nortje to score in the corner after rounding his opponent.
Blitzboks delight home crowd
Much to the delight of the crowd, they tackled brilliantly as well with Impi Visser and Zain Davids leading the charge on defence that kept Great Britain out for an extended period, before they finally forced their way over on the halftime clock.
Some early jitters caused passing errors, but as far as their discipline was concerned, the South Africans were outstanding.
Nortje completed his brace in the second half and that try sealed the game. It was a brilliant little bit of trickery and basketball passing from Davids that bedazzled the British defence with Nortje using his pace to run around to score.
It was a solid defensive start with some good moments on the attack, and coach Sandile Ngcobo will hope his troops can kick on from this start. Their next match is against the USA (2.18pm).
Earlier on Saturday morning, the Springbok Women’s Sevens side scored the first try of their match but failed to capitalise - falling to France in their opening game.
It was a well-worked try to set speedster Ayanda Malinga away down the touchline to grab the lead at the break. But their defensive effort failed them, and it allowed France to win 29-7.