Leighton Koopman
A nine-year wait is over and the Blitzboks are finally winners of the Cape Town SVNS again.
In a clinical final display, where they defended like Trojans in the second half to keep France at bay, the Springbok Sevens secured the title in front of their home crowd with a 26-14 win over the Olympic gold medallist on Sunday. It is the first time since 2015 that South Africa claimed the title when head coach Philip Snyman was still a player. On two previous occasions they lost the final in Cape Town against England and New Zealand, respectively.
It was sweet revenge for the South Africans over the French who beat them in the semi-final of the Olympic Games and defeated them last weekend in Dubai to claim the fifth place in the opening tournament. But the Blitzboks had the last laugh yesterday, thanks to their fierce defence and their strike runners who put four tries past their opponents to end up with an emphatic win.
France were quick out the blocks and putt the Springbok Sevens under immense pressure at the breakdown, turning their possession over after a clean kick-off receive to score the opener. South Africa initially looked solid when they took the ball in from the first whistle, but they failed to protect their ball possession, and the physical French put in a good counterruck to turn the ball over and score.
The first try for the home side was thing of beauty. After winning a line-out in their attacking half, playmaker Dewald Human sent the ball with a sweetly timed wide pass to centre Donavan Don who cut through the defence line like a knife through butter to score. When co-captain Zain Davids scored the second after bursting through a couple of defenders, the home side took the lead and had their tails in the air.
Some ordinary defending allowed the French to pull one back to go level at 14-all, just as it looked as if the South Africans were going in the lead at the break with the advantage in their court.
In the half-time huddle of the Blitzboks, it looked as if some heavy words fell because they sharpened up their breakdown play and tackling in the second half. They warded off every French attack, even with former captain Siviwe Soyizwapi in the sin bin late in the game for tackline a player without the ball.
The second-half scores of Shilton van Wyk after a neat little grubber by Human, and Van Wyk taking a quick tap after a penalty to put David Brits away on the wing, sealed the game for the home side. At the death, they defended well and forced a turnover for the ball to be booted out to clinch the match to the roar of the crowd.
Earlier in the day, the Blitzboks warded off Spain in the semi-finals, fighting their way back from 12-0 down to clinch the game 19-12 for the spot in the finals.