Johannesburg - The Blitzboks’ fall from grace continued in Toulouse on Saturday when they failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of a tournament for the first time since 2013 as they were dispatched 19-7 by Samoa.
It wasn’t that long ago that Neil Powell’s Springbok Sevens team seemed incapable of losing, but over the three months or so they have lost their mojo and now will finish third in their pool after having lost to Ireland — for the first time ever – on the opening day of the France Sevens.
The Blitzboks now suffer the ignominy of having to play for ninth place against the team that finished bottom of Pool A.
Looking at the defeat to Samoa, it does seem that little is going right for the South Africans in terms of the bounce of the ball but to be fair the Samoans, they took their chances.
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Where the Boks were not good was the restarts — twice they were untidy in this department and twice Samoa took the ball and galloped half the field for tries.
Samos led 19-0 at halftime thanks to two tries from Vaa Apelu Maliko and one by Steve Rimoni.
Three minutes from the end of the match, Ronald Brown darted away as he broke from the back of a five-metre scrum for a consolation try.
IOL sport