Siviwe Soyizwapi

South Africa’s Siviwe Soyizwapi fends off the Kenya defense on day one of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Hamilton on 26 January, 2019. Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

New Zealand Sevens: Blitzboks and other teams, kick off times for knockouts

The Hamilton leg of the World Rugby Sevens series resumes on Sunday, and the Blitzboks will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten run.

Siviwe Soyizwapi

South Africa’s Siviwe Soyizwapi fends off the Kenya defense on day one of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Hamilton on 26 January, 2019. Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

The Hamilton Sevens kicked off on Saturday, and the Blitzboks came off the Pool stages largely unscathed, in both the “loose” column and in terms of injuries, as they set up a cup quarterfinal meeting with Samoa.

Neil Powell’s men have been hampered by knocks in previous legs in this season’s Worl Rugby Sevens season and were happy to report a clean bill of health on their way to coming up trumps in Pool C.

The Blitzboks opened their account by thumping Kenya 29-10, before easing past France, who they beat 17-5, then doing pretty much the same to Scotland with a 26-7 scoreline.

Coach, Neil Powell noted the improvement from their home leg of the series, where they won two and lost one at the exact stage.

“I am happy in our progress. We have improved in every game, and that is what we were looking for,” Powell said afterwards.

“We started a bit slow against Kenya, but improved during the match and continued with that against France and Scotland.”

The Blitzboks next square off against thePacific Islanders, who are coached by the wily old Gordon Tietjens, former coach of the circuit’s most successful side, New Zealand.

Your Cup quarter-finalists at the #NZSevens @fijirugby v @RugbyCanada @Blitzboks v @manusamoa @AllBlacks7s v @Aussie7s @USARugby v @Scotlandteam

Follow the action on Sunday from 1000hrs (GMT+13)https://t.co/UqSWtCpwMW pic.twitter.com/hCVcCjD9ic— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) January 26, 2019

Powell anticipates a tough physical battle against a team they faced in the Cape Town leg of the series.

“It is going to be physical, and the team who use their chances best should prevail. Defence will be key, and if we can pitch up defensively against them, we will be in the match,” he said.

World Rugby Sevens results

Scotland 26-21 France

South Africa 29-10 Kenya

England 10-12 Samoa

USA 29-7 Tonga

Australia 17-12 Argentina

Fiji 54-7 Wales

Spain 12-12 Canada

Scotland 19-10 Kenya

South Africa 17-5 France

England 36-7 Tonga

Australia 26-5 Wales

Fiji 33-24 Argentina

Spain 22-19 Japan

France 15-19 Kenya

South Africa 26-7 Scotland

Samoa 28-12 Tonga

USA 19-7 England

Fiji 26-19 Australia

Canada 26-0 Japan

New Zealand 24-0 Spain

Hamilton Sevens cup quarterfinals, 27 January 2019

*South African Standard Time

QF1: Fiji vs Canada – 1:36

QF2: South Africa vs Samoa – 1:58

QF3: New Zealand vs Australia – 2:20

QF4: USA vs Scotland – 2:42

The final will be played at 9:10 South African time.