Unbeaten Blitzboks aim for victory against New Zealand in SVNS World Championship knockout
Speedster Shilton van Wyk dots down the winning try for the Blitzboks against Great Britain at the Los Angeles SVNS on Saturday.
Image: Zach Franzen / World Rugby
The Blitzboks will face arch-rivals New Zealand on Saturday evening for a place in the finals of the SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles after an undefeated group stage at the final tournament of the season.
South Africa delivered near-perfect second-half performances against France and Argentina and a strong display on defence against Great Britain to secure their spot in the final four.
However, improved plays, especially in the first half, will be needed if they want to bag the title later on Saturday evening and early Sunday morning should they make the finals.
It's still a long wait until the semis at Dignity Health Sports Park against the Kiwis (10.46 pm start), but it will give the Blitzboks plenty of time to prepare for what could be one of their biggest knockout games of the year.
They laid a good foundation for the duel by knocking over the Argentines 29-21 in a fighting display having to come back from being a score down right before halftime to grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half. Two quick-fire tries by the SVNS Series titleholders with Siviwe Soyiwazpi in the sin bin put the Blitzboks on the backfoot after playmaker Ronald Brown opened the scoring.
Forward Ryan Oosthuizen's equalising converted score levelled things at the break which was exactly what the side needed. They came out firing with Soyizwapi, hotstepper Shilton van Wyk and Selvyn Davids claiming the tries that floored the Argentines and allowed for a comfortable 29-14 lead. A consolation try for Argentina at the end brought the result closer.
The South Africans had a better start to the game against Great Britain – a team they always found tricky to beat. They got out to an early 12-0 start and had to defend as if their lives depended on it in the second half to claim a 12-7 victory eventually.
In the opener against France, they quickly found themselves trailing 10-0 towards the end of the first half and it looked like they would have that old ailment of being slow out the blocks.
But, a vital try on the stroke of halftime by captain Davids and further scores from Van Wyk and hard-working forward Zain Davids in the second stanza, secured the game to get the Blitzboks going.
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