Brave Americans end Blitzboks’ run of 36 consecutive wins

FILE - The United States’ Perry Baker and Blitzboks captain Siviwe Soyizwapi. Photo: @USARugby/Twitter

FILE - The United States’ Perry Baker and Blitzboks captain Siviwe Soyizwapi. Photo: @USARugby/Twitter

Published Apr 9, 2022

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Cape Town — The Blitzboks put in an uncharacteristic display in their last pool game on Day One of the Singapore Sevens as the USA snapped their winning streak to top Pool A.

The South Africans had been undefeated in 36 World Sevens Series games before heading into their pool-decider on Saturday, which they lost 7-12.

Earlier in the day, Neil Powell's side claimed a 31-5 win over Canada, before going on to beat Kenya 26-5 in their second outing of the day.

The USA came out on a mission and produced a much more clinical performance than their opposition, whose cause weren’t helped at all by their error rate and overall lacklustre performance.

The USA were first on the scoresheet after a slipped tackle allowed David Still to visit SA’s in-goal. The converted score saw them go 7-0 up at half time.

Ryan Oosthuizen ran in the defending Series champions’ only try, and speed merchant Perry Baker scored at the death to seal an impressive win for the Americans.

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) April 9, 2022

The result will see the BlitzBoks face Fiji in the quarter-finals, while the USA will face Ireland.

In the other quarter-final matches, New Zealand will go up against Samoa, while Australia will face against Argentina.

Point scorers:

South Africa 7 — Try: Ryan Oosthuizen Conversion: Dewald Human

USA 12 — Tries: David Still, Perry Baker Conversion: Lucas Lacamp

@WynonaLouw

IOL Sport

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