Ricardo Duarttee scores for the Blitzboks at the Dubai Sevens. Image: Blitzboks.
Blitzboks to face Kiwis in Dubai Cup semi-finals
The Blitzboks progressed to the Cup semi-finals of the Dubai Sevens after clinching a hard-fought 24-19 win over Samoa on Saturday morning.
Ricardo Duarttee scores for the Blitzboks at the Dubai Sevens. Image: Blitzboks.
The Blitzboks progressed to the Cup semi-finals of the Dubai Sevens after clinching a hard-fought 24-19 win over Samoa on Saturday morning.
Sandile Ngcobos side will play New Zealand, who beat France 20-0, in the semi-final of the second World Sevens Series tournament of season at 12:39pm (SA time).
Ultimately, this quarter-final was won by the trickery of Ricardo Duarttee. With the Blitzboks staring down the barrel, the rookie sparked his team to life with three excellent plays, including a brace of tries, to get them over the line.
Although the Blitzboks showed vast improvement, they still weren’t quite at their best, but they turned on the style — aggressive defence and composure under pressure — in a second half where they enjoyed a surfeit of possession.
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Samoa dominated the first half, enjoying the lion’s share of possession and territory, and made it count as they bagged two early tries for a well-deserved 12-0 lead.
But the game was turned on its head as Duarttee singlehandedly got the Blitzboks back into the contest. The youngster first danced his way through the heart of the Samoa defence to score a brilliant solo try and then went on another devastating run before releasing Muller du Plessis for a try that levelled the scores.
And the Blitzboks could have gone ahead on the stroke of half-time, but skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi lost control of the ball inches from the tryline.
Playing with plenty of endeavour, Samoa scored in the third minute, take the lead once again. But the Blitzboks responded immediately from the subsequent kick-off. Duarttee provided the spark with again, taking a quick tap from a penalty to score in the corner.
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Trailing 19-17 with the clock winding down, the Blitzboks brought on several reinforcements off the bench and they made an immediate impact. James Murphy went over for what proved to be the match-winning try and when Samoa went in search of a crucial try at the death, Davlon Blood brilliantly contested for the ball at the breakdown to win a penalty which brought an end to the game.
Ireland and the USA will contest the first Cup semi-final of the Dubai Sevens, followed by the showdown between the Blitzboks and New Zealand.
