Cape Town - It all came down to a single conversion as the Blitzboks fell short of defending their Cape Town Sevens title in dramatic fashion, going down 19-17 to England in the final on Sunday.
Werner Kok scored a try just before the hooter sounded at Cape Town Stadium, but the five-pointer was in the left-hand corner. That meant the left-footed Justin Geduld had to slot the conversion to take the decider into extra time, but his effort went wide.
It was a disappointing end to a fine tournament from the Springbok Sevens side, who gradually improved over the two days.
The injury-enforced absence of World Sevens Player of the Year Seabelo Senatla and Kyle Brown for the final was a huge blow to the Blitzboks’ chances of defending the trophy they won last year.
Senatla was the mainstay of the team on attack and Brown on defence, and the Blitzboks lacked an edge in both departments in the final.
Whereas they kept their shape and composure in the quarter- and semi-finals, the Blitzboks tried to force passes and weren’t effective at the breakdowns.
The likes of Werner Kok and Rosko Specman had to take greater responsibility, and while they were both again outstanding, they had too much to do to get past the English.
The hard-working Chris Dry, though, was the man to open the scoring when he ran a wonderful line following a burst by Kwagga Smith. Dry showed a surprising turn of speed to outpace the English cover defence, but it didn’t take long for Richard de Carpentier to dot down, and Tom Mitchell slotted the conversion to put the visitors into a 7-5 lead.
England’s quick-passing game stretched the Blitzbok defence, and speedster Dan Norton added a second try before halftime to ramp up the pressure on the South Africans, who battled to deal with their opponents’ rush defence.
Neil Powell’s team also lost playmaker Branco du Preez to injury before the break, but were brought back into the game in the second half when Specman produced another amazing piece of skill. The man from Grahamstown – whose Twitter handle is @speckmagic11 – proved that he was worthy of that tag when he saw the space behind the England defence and kicked ahead, winning the race to level the scores at 12-12.
That was a tactic the South Africans should’ve used more often in the face of the pressing defence, but it was the English who kept their cool with ball-in-hand to outwork the Blitzboks and put Ruaridh McConnachie over on the left.
It was a difficult conversion for the left-footed Mitchell, but he banged it over and those two points were the difference at the final whistle.
The Blitzboks kept going in the search for a final try to take the game into extra time, very nearly got it closer to the uprights when Specman again sliced through England.
The dreadlocked flyer was brought down just short of the line, but England infringed at the breakdown and Norton was given a yellow card.
The South Africans needed to dot down closer to the posts to make the conversion easier, but fluffed their lines initially before Kok went over in the corner.
Geduld, though, had an almost impossible task and missed his shot at goal.
POINTS-SCORERS
South Africa – Tries: Chris Dry, Rosko Specman, Werner Kok. Conversions: Cecil Afrika (1).
England – Tries: Richard de Carpentier, Dan Norton, Ruaridh McConnachie. Conversions: Tom Mitchell (2).