Blitzboks booted out of Cape Town Sevens

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The Blitzboks’ dream of a first Cape Town Sevens title since 2015 came crashing down when Samoa landed an extra-time drop goal in the semi-finals on Sunday.

It was a crushing blow for the hosts, who trailed 7-0 for most of the match after conceding an early try in the first half, but fought back in the second half to take the game into extra time.

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Ultimately, an error from the first extra-time kick-off led to the Blitzboks conceding a penalty. Samoa played their cards wisely and opted to take the drop-goal from around 30m out, bringing the Springbok Sevens’ dream run to an end.

Playing in front of a vociferous home support, the Blitzboks made a nervy start to the match as they struggled to deal with Samoa’s phyiscality and breakdown pressure. Multiple penalties – and a yellow card to Ricardo Duarttee – were punished when Samoa exploited an overlap to get an early 7-0 lead.

Samoa would hold onto that lead and pin the Springbok Sevens back for most of the contest. That was until the home side finally worked their way over with two minutes to play, through Ryan Oosthuizen, who bashed through a couple of tackles from a quick-tap penalty.

Just as it appeared the Blitzboks had got the fans back up and in full voice, their inexperience told when Darren Adonis lost the ball from a high kick-off – the first time the Blitzboks messed up a receive in the match – and Shilton van Wyk opted to play the ball, resulting a penalty for offside.

Samoa will move on to face New Zealand in the final, while the Blitzboks will take on the USA for third place at 6.59pm.

Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

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Dylan Jack