Olympics heartbreak for Blitzboks after shock defeat

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The Blitzboks saw their quest for an Olympic medal come to an agonising end as Argentina shrugged off an early red card to claim a stunning victory in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

In one of the most remarkable sevens performances, Argentina recuperated from the blow of conceding an early try and losing the influential Gaston Revol to a red card to beat one of the medal favourites at the Olympic Games.

It looked all set for a comfortable Blitzboks victory when Selvyn Davids scored in the opening after a superb linebreak from Kurt-Lee Arendse. The Blitzboks were given a further boost when Revol was shown a red card after an illegal high charge on Selvyn Davids after the South African playmaker chipped the ball over the defence.

However, despite their numerical advantage, the Blitzboks completely lost control of the match and gifted possession back to Argentina with a string of errors. Some hard questions need to be asked of some of the senior players who went missing when they were needed most.

Argentina wasted no time in punishing their opponents, getting the ball to speedster Marcos Moneta and he twice sliced through the Blitzboks defence to give them a surprise 14-7 lead at the break.

Whatever the Blitzboks spoke about at the break did not sink in as Argentina again forced them into errors and camped in South Africa’s territory. This eventually resulted in Santiago Alvarez dotting down in the corner to put them 19-7 up.

With less than one minute left on the clock, the Blitzboks were given hope when they were awarded a penalty try. However, they failed to win back possession from the subsequent kick-off as Argentina hoofed the ball into touch for a deserved win.

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Dylan Jack