Blitzboks Through to Semi-Final After Beating Kenya at Cape Town Sevens

The Springbok Sevens team have progressed to the Cape Town Sevens semi-finals after they beat Kenya by 17-5 in a very physical quarter-final characterized by a couple of massive hits on Sunday morning.

The Blitzboks scored three tries – with Ruhan Nel dotting down twice – and had the big crowd on the edge of their seats for long periods of the game, as their African counterparts refused to give up.

A few unnecessary handling errors and missed tackles didn’t make life any easier for the South Africans though, but in the end they simply had too much power and pace for Kenya.

Kenya opened the scoring with a try by Alvin Otieno after they turned over possession deep in their own half.

Moments later Nel knocked on with an open try-line in front of him, but the big Blitzbok midfielder made amends soon afterwards as he swerved and powered his way over to tie the scores at 5-5, which was also the score at the break.

Midway through the second half, Nel gladly accepted another opportunity from a strong run after a great deep kick by Rosko Specman handed the Blitzboks a lineout 5m from the Kenyan try-line. Justin Geduld added the extras and at 12-5 the home team were in control.

With two minutes to go and Kenya hot on the attack on the SA 22, Chris Dry forced a breakdown penalty, and a minute later, they all but sealed the game when Selvyn Davids followed up a deft chip by Siviwe Soyizwapi for the Blitzboks’ third try.

The Blitzboks will face France in the semi-final, which kicks off at 14h39 on Sunday afternoon.

Scorers:

South Africa 17 (5) – Tries: Ruhan Nel (2), Selvyn Davids. Conversion: Justin Geduld.

Kenia 5 (5) – Try: Alvin Otieno.