JC Pretorius Blitzboks Cape Town Sevens 2022 Fiji

JC Pretorius in action for the Blitzboks at the Cape Town Sevens. Photo: @Blitzboks/Twitter.

Brilliant Blitzboks upend Fiji at Cape Town Sevens

The Blitzboks put on a good all-round display to inflict a 17-7 defeat on rivals Fiji in their Pool A showdown at the Cape Town Sevens.

JC Pretorius Blitzboks Cape Town Sevens 2022 Fiji

JC Pretorius in action for the Blitzboks at the Cape Town Sevens. Photo: @Blitzboks/Twitter.

The Blitzboks put on a good all-round display to inflict a 17-7 defeat on bitter rivals Fiji in their crucial Pool A showdown at the Cape Town Sevens on Saturday.

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Billed as the big game of the pool stages here in Cape Town, the Blitzboks put on a show to remain the only unbeaten side in Pool A and thus move to the top of the standings.

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Normally one player stands out in these games, but in this particular clash it was a brilliant collective effort from these Blitzboks to flay the Flying Fijians.

A in a frenetic opening ssequence of play, both teams lost possession several times before Fiji managed to unlocked the South Africans’ defence a with beautiful offload. To add insult to injury, the touchline conversion was good too.

But that was as good as it got for Fiji, as the Blitzboks wrestled back the moment and seized the ascendancy with three tries.

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Unable to make a break through the Fijian tacklers, Shilton van Wyk took it upon himself to get his team on the scoreboard when he breached the stubborn Fijian resistance with a superb kick and chase to dot down.

From the resultant restart, Fiji penalised for jumping into a tackle and the Blitzboks made them pay. A quick tap by Ricardo Duarttee, or Tricky Ricky as he is known, drew in the Fijians tacklers with a little darting run before freeing up Muller du Plessis through a gap in midfield for a converted try.

No sooner the game restarted and Fiji was pinged yet again in their 22 again for not releasing the ball after a tackle. Unfortunately, Blitzboks captain Siviwe Soyizwapi was isolated by he attempted to attack on the blindside and he was bundled into touch bringing an end to the half.

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Trailing 12-7 at the midway mark, you’d expect Fiji to at least mount a comeback of some sort. But they were brilliantly denied by the the South Africans’ suffocating work in defence.

Tricky Ricky and replacement Darren Adonis both made desperate try-saving tackles in a half that can best be described as a war of attribution.

The game was then put to bed when JC Pretorius went on one of his fighting runs bustling his way through tacklers to all but end the contest.

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Shilton van Wyk scores for the Blitzboks at the Cape Town Sevens. Photo: @Blitzboks.
Shilton van Wyk scores for the Blitzboks at the Cape Town Sevens. Photo: @Blitzboks.