The Springbok Sevens suffered two more defeats in Spain on Saturday and will contest the fifth-place semi-finals of the HSBC SVNS in Madrid.
Image: SA Rugby website Image: SA Rugby websiteTo add insult to injury, Dylan Sage cried off with a knee injury and is an unlikely starter on Sunday.The match against New Zealand touched on the bizarre, with the Blitzboks given three yellow cards in quick succession for tackle infringements and at one stage they only had four players on the field to front up to the New Zealanders.
Despite that – and even scoring a try with five players on the field – the final say belonged to the Kiwis in a match where the lead changed hands six times. Two tries in quick succession by Christie Grobbelaar and Quewin Nortje eliminated the advantage an early Dylan Collier try gave New Zealand, before a penalty try to the Kiwis cancelled out a Selvyn Davids try.
The second half was again helter skelter, but Moses Leo had the final say with his try after the final hooter, giving New Zealand the edge.The Fijian offloading game asked too many questions of the defence and they were up 21-0 at the break. The second half saw a better SA effort, but in the end, they came up short, not only in the match, but on the day.
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