The Blitzboks beat France 17-10, while thrashing Kenya 35-10, in the opening two matches of their Hong Kong Sevens campaign.

Coach Neil Powell may have been far from happy with the scrappy opening performance from his charges on Friday, but they were a lot more clinical in their clash against Kenya on day two. 

The Springbok Sevens raced into a 21-0 lead as Werner Kok, Branco du Preez and Philip Snyman all dotted down in the first half, with Kenya failing to display the necessary patience and composure on attack.

Having said that, Kenya did hit back as Dennis Ombachi and Nelson Oyoo scored on either side of half-time, but Kok finished off two well-worked tries soon after to complete his hat-trick and seal the win.

On day one, the Blitzboks had come away with a hard-fought win, with Siviwe Soyizwapi and Branco du Preez scoring early on to establish a 10-0 lead.

However, two mistakes by the Blitzboks then saw France cross the line twice to level matters at 10-10 going into the break.

It took a try from Cecil Afrika, who is playing in his 50th tournament, to separate the sides, and with Du Preez adding the conversion, France needed a converted try in the dying minutes to draw level. Yet South Africa's defence held firm to seal the win.

The Blitzboks will next face Canada at 11.54 on Saturday.

Hong Kong Sevens fixtures and results

Photo: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images