Sweet and sour for Blitzboks in LA as they end runners-up in series

The Springbok Sevens secured a place in Los Angeles, but finished on the podium for the 2022 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. They were beaten back by Australia, who won their first World Series.

SA (124 points) were overhauled by the Aussies (126), with Fiji coming third overall with 122 points.

The Blitzboks warmed up towards the end of the LA Sevens on Sunday, finishing the tournament with two solid wins over Spain and Japan. They started their day with a 10-5 defeat to Wales.

The two wins in three was not enough to cheer coach Neil Powell and he did not leave his last World Series tournament in charge of the Blitzboks smiling.

“It was not what we expected,” Powell said. “I was not happy with the effort of the team over the two days and we will have to address that when back in Cape Town and preparing for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in two weeks’ time.”

The podium finish for the Blitzboks in the 2022 world series season did bring some joy to the squad.

They started with a ninth-place quarterfinal defeat to Wales, in which both teams made many errors. In the end it was a famous Wales win, their first since 2012 over the Blitzboks, a telling tale of the SA performances in Los Angeles.

The Blitzboks rebounded against Spain in the semifinal, beating the European side 29-12 after a 10-7 lead at the break.

They looked more like potential World Series winners when they played Japan in the 13th-place final. SA’s defence was rock-solid, especially in the opening two minutes when Japan attacked for a number of phases.

A turnover later, Shilton van Wyk was under the Japan poles after a strong run. The 7-0 lead was extended shortly after when James Murphy scored, again with Van Wyk prominent, showing his skills with two foot passes in the move.

With their defence now solid, it was just a matter of time before another turnover would bring a try and JC Pretorius was the beneficiary. His try took the halftime score to 19-0.

The second half saw a better effort from Japan on attack, but it was Ryan Oosthuizen who scored with a minute left to seal the win.

Scorers

SA 5 (5) — Try: Ryan Oosthuizen.

Wales 10 (10) — Tries: Luke Threhane, Morgan Williams.

SA 29 (10) — Tries: Siviwe Soyizwapi, JC Pretorius, James Murphy, Angelo Davids, Muller du Plessis. Conversions: Branco du Preez, Shaun Williams.

Spain 12 (7) — tries: Anton Legoburu, Jaime Manteca. Conversion: Francisco Cosculluela.

SA 26 (19) — Tries: Shilton van Wyk, James Murphy, JC Pretorius, Ryan Oosthuizen. Conversions: Branco du Preez (2), Shaun Williams.

Japan 0