The 2016/17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series champions South Africa saw off fellow African rivals Kenya with a close-shave 12-10 victory in their opening pool game on day one of the London Sevens at Twickenham on Saturday.
Two minutes into the opening half, SA’s Siviwe Soyizwapi was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle from an offside position and Kenya capitalised on the extra-man advantage with a Billy Odhiambo try (unconverted) moments later.
Once the Blitzbokke were restored to a full complement, they worked their way upfield and Ruhan Nel crossed the whitewash far out. Cecil Afrika’s conversion attempt went wide before the teams changed ends at 5-all.
Second-half play was hardly underway when Kenya’s Andrew Amonde has sin-binned for a high tackle.
Strangely, the Keyna were the stronger side until the Blitzbokke staged a break-out with Rosko Specman running the length of the field to score. Afrika’s conversion pushed the scoreline out to 12-5.
Nelson Oyoo ran in a try to keep Kenya’s hopes alive but with the conversion going astray the Blitzbokke held out for a close-shave 12-10 win.
South Africa’s Blitzbokke have two games left on Saturday. They play Wales (15:26) and USA (18:32) in their remaining pool games.
