The Blitzboks lost 17-0 to Ireland in their opening pool match, while the Springbok Women’s Sevens were outplayed 41-5 by New Zealand.
Springbok Women’s Sevens
The Black Ferns started where they left in Vancouver and immediately found momentum on attack. They scored in the opening minute after winning the kick-off and a minute later they had two in the bag, again after having all the momentum with ball in hand. Three more tries followed before the break as the SA Women were totally outplayed and hardly had any possession.
The second half delivered another quick start from the Kiwis, who raced to 41-0 before Ayanda Malinga ran 70 meters to score, having snatched up a loose pass from her opponents.
The last two minutes was the best of the match for South Africa, who finally managed to put some nice phases together and even forced New Zealand into conceding a yellow card at the breakdown. This fluency will again be needed on Saturday night when they face Fiji, who were beaten by Brazil in their pool match, at 22h26 (SA time).
Scorers:
SA 5 (0)- Try: Ayanda Malinga
NZ 41 (29) - Tries: Jorja Miller, Michaela Blyde, Shiray Kaka (2), Kelsey Teneti (2), Mahina Paul. Conversions: Tyla King (2), Manaia Nuku.
Ryan Oosthuizen looks for support against Ireland.
Springbok Sevens
The Blitzboks started their game against Ireland in the worst possible way, spilling the ball from the kick-off and allowing the Irish to score a converted try in the opening minute.
The Irish kept that momentum for most of the half, playing almost all of their rugby in the Blitzboks' half and enjoying 90% of the possession. They outworked the South African defence two more times for a 17-0 lead at the break.
The second half was better from the SA side, but they just could not cross the Irish line. They were pinged at the breakdown and when in possession, gave it away or kicked ahead, with no result.
They will have to improve dramatically in their next match against log leaders, Argentina, if they want to make it into the final eight. The match starts at 20h36 (SA time)
Scorers:
Ireland 17 (17) - Tries: Connor O'Sullivan, Zac Ward (2). Conversion: Ed Kelly.
