Blitzboks crash out of Cup contention with defeat to All Blacks

The Blitzboks failed to quality for the Cup quarter-finals of the Singapore Sevens after slumping to an agonising 12-7 defeat to New Zealand on Saturday.

The Springbok Sevens side were drawn in a ‘Pool of Death’ – as reported by The South African website – along with the All Blacks, Australia and Hong Kong.

It proved just that for the Blitzboks, whose hopes of being crowned champions were killed by a results column that read two defeats and one win.

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The Blitzboks were beaten badly by Australia in their opening match 19-0 and then bounced back to beat minnows Hong Kong 31-12.

That meant they had to beat the unbeaten New Zealand in their final Pool A match to advance to the Cup playoffs. That hill became a mountain when it was determined that the Blitzboks would need to win by a 30-point margin against the Kiwis as a direct result of the Australians crushing Hong Kong 48-0 or else they’d be eliminated.

Ultimately, that was an insurmountable challenge as the Blitzboks failed to win the game against the Kiwis, let alone win by 30.

Though it was a closely fought encounter, the Blitzboks delivered another underwhelming performance despite scoring the first try when
Mfundo Ndhlovu dotted down.

New Zealand struck back before half-time to level matters and then hammered the final nail in South Africa’s coffin with a second try, which was the match winner.

They will now face a fifth-eighth place playoff match against Ireland at 05:56 (SA time) on Sunday.

THE BLITZBOKS ARE STUCK IN A RUT