Blitzboks win two from two on day one in Singapore

The Springbok Sevens team got their HSBC SVNS Singapore campaign off to a winning start with victories over Spain and Samoa on Friday, effectively booking their spot in the quarterfinals.

The Blitzboks defended well at times in both games and used their attacking opportunities to seal the wins. They scored eight and conceded three tries, two of which came after the buzzer in their two matches.

South Africa scored five tries in their 31-7 victory over Spain, and even though the scoreline doesn't tell the story, they were forced to defend at times during the game, which they did well to keep the tricky Spanish out until they crossed after the hooter had sounded.

Selvyn Davids scored the first try one minute in when he showed great speed from the back of an attacking scrum just outside the Spanish 22.

Dewald Human converted to make it 7-0, and then he scored the second try a few minutes later after a string of penalties against Spain.

The last penalty was close to Spain's own try line and Human didn't need a second invitation to tap and crash over for the try to stretch the Blitzboks' lead to 12-0.

Spain finished the half strong but the Blitzboks' defence held firm in their own 22 to take their 12-point lead into the break.

From the restart, Christie Grobbelaar set off on a strong run, but he was stopped just short. A few phases later though, Impi Visser found space and scored the Blitzboks' third try, with Human adding the extras to make it 19-0.

Tristan Leyds then made it 26-0 after a great steal on the ground by Visser, who fed the speedster to race away for the try, which was converted by Selvyn Davids.

Rosko Specman celebrated the start of his 35th tournament in style when he grabbed the Blitzboks' fifth try from a clever grubber to make it 31-0.

Spain grabbed a consolation try after the buzzer, but the Blitzboks had done what they needed by then.

The match against Samoa was a typical arm-wrestle, with the physical islanders scoring first after four minutes.

To add insult to injury, Human hobbled off with an injury, with Leyds replacing him.

A minute later, Quewin Nortje showed some real pace to go over on the left, but the conversion was not over and the scores were tied at 5-5, which is how it stayed until the break.

The Blitzboks started the second half with a bang when Selvyn Davids went over from a set play from an attacking line-out, which was set up by a brilliant penalty clearance kick from Leyds, who moved play from the South African to the Samoan 22.

Two minutes later, Shilton van Wyk made it 15-5 with another try from a set play, but again the conversion was unsuccessful.

With 90 seconds to go, Specman was shown a harsh yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, but the Blitzboks held firm until they ran out of defensive numbers after the hooter, which allowed Samoa to score their second try.

South Africa face France in their final pool game at 8.24am SA time on Saturday.

Scorers

South Africa 31 (12) — Tries: Selvyn Davids, Dewald Human, Impi Visser, Tristan Leyds, Rosko Specman. Conversions: Human (2), Selvyn Davids.

Spain 7 (9) — Try: Enrique Bolinches. Conversion: Juan Martinez.

South Africa 15 (5) — Tries: Selvyn Davids, Quewin Nortje, Shilton van Wyk.

Samoa 10 (5) — Tries: Uaina Tui Sione, Daniel Patelesio.

SA Rugby