By Mark Etheridge
South Africa’s Blitzboks edged one step closer to nailing their Hong Kong hoodoo as they beat New Zealand in the quarter-final of the HSBC World Sevens series on Sunday.
Neil Powell’s men beat their traditional Southern Hemisphere rivals 21-19 to set up a semi-final against the United States at 9.51am on Sunday.
The Blitzboks, who have reached all six finals in the series thus far this season, have yet to be crowned champions in this Far Eastern tournament and will be hoping to set that right later in the day.
South Africa looked strangely disjointed in the opening half against the Kiwis, and Welsh referee Craig Evans was a busy man as he punished them for a string of mistakes.
But they got on to the scorecard first when the impressive Chris Dry dotted down midway through the half. Then came a yellow card late in the half for Dylan Sage (high tackle) and despite the Blitzboks trying to attack, possession was turned over and Regan Ware went over down the right.
A second New Zealand try followed through Sione Molia and the Kiwis led 12-7 at the break.
It was left to veteran Cecil Africa to put the Blitzboks back in front early in the second half as he ghosted over the line, and another successful conversion by Branco du Preez made it 14-12. You can’t keep Werner Kok out of the action for long, and he put his side 19-12 up after referee Evans called for help from the video review.
Afrika’s conversion put them nine points ahead, a cushion which came in handy as Sam Dickson scored for New Zealand after the hooter had sounded.
Picture of Africa courtesy of Derek Cain/Getty Images