Vancouver Sevens results: Blit

LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 02: Cecil Afrika of South Africa looks to pass against Wales during the USA Sevens Rugby tournament at Sam Boyd Stadium on March 2, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/Getty Images/AFP

Vancouver Sevens results: Blitzboks make light work of Russia in opening fixture

The Blitzboks got their Vancouver Sevens campaign off to a winning start by beating Russia in the opening fixture.

Vancouver Sevens results: Blit

LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 02: Cecil Afrika of South Africa looks to pass against Wales during the USA Sevens Rugby tournament at Sam Boyd Stadium on March 2, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/Getty Images/AFP

 

The Blitzboks made light work of Russia in their opening fixture of the Vancouver Sevens, beating them 38-7 on Saturday.

The two sides squared off in the second fixture of the day.

The Blitzboks opened the scoring through Cecil Afrika, with Russia giving the South Africans far too much space.

The conversion was missed and a few minutes later, Russia responded through a try of their own. Sergei Ianiushkin did the honours and made it the fully tally of seven by kicking over the conversion.

The Blitzboks next play Scotland at 23:24 on Saturday and then face New Zealand at 2:56 on Sunday morning.

Any concerns of a possible blip were soon quelled as some nifty footwork helped to get the ball out wide to Dylan Sage and this time, the conversion was successful and the Blitzboks took a 12-7 lead into the break.

After the break, Russia came out all guns blazing and the two sides exchanged possession with Russian somehow managing to string together more passes than the Blitzboks.

A strong tackle from Dylan Sage forced a turnover, though, and Ruhan Nel scooped up a loose ball and restored order to proceedings.

Not long after, Muller du Plessis scored his first try in Blitzboks colours after a cheeky one-handed load off from Nel found him out wide.

South Africa continued the trend of turning over possession quickly and this time it was Stedman Gans who crossed the whitewash.

With less than a minute left on the clock, a steal from Gans was passed to big Zain Davids who forced his way over the line to put the Blitzboks well into the safe zone.

With the hooter having gone, Russia tried desperately to find some consolation from the match as the two sides played on for over a minute. But Russia conceded a penalty and South Africa took the tap and go and kicked out of touch.

In the first fixture of the day, New Zealand beat Scotland 31-26.