South Africa’s men’s Sevens ended rhe first day of the SVNS World Championship in Valladolid unbeaten after wins against Great Britain (17-12) and Kenya (14-0). The win against GB came with a Tristan Leyds try after the final hooter.
Both games were played in another uncomfortable day weatherwise, with the Spanish heat sapping players’ energy.
South Africa were to take on Australia in their final pool match on Saturday.
Kenya, after a tightly-contested first four minutes, Shilton van Wyk scored an intercept try, with Tristan Leyds converting. It was a scrappy match, but Kenya were reduced to six men when Denis Abukuse saw yellow for a deliberate knock-down and South Africa took full advantage, with Sebastiaan Jobb’s converted try securing the win.
Earlier, South Africa were pushed all the way before edging Great Britain. It was an arm-wrestle from the outset as both teams looked to establish early dominance.
Great Britain scored in the fifth minute when captain Charlton Kerr powered over for the opening try but teh response was on the stroke of half-time with a superb counter-attacking score from deep inside their own 22. Leyds floated a pass wide to Van Wyk, who sliced through a gap before sprinting away to level matters.
The second half followed a similar pattern, with both teams struggling to create clear-cut chances. South Africa eventually broke the deadlock in the fifth minute of the half when Sebastian Jobb gathered a pinpoint grubber from Dewald Human to score. Human added the conversion to make it 12-5.
With less than a minute remaining, Tom Salmon outpaced Ricardo Duarttee to score under the posts and Tom Burton slotted the conversion to force the match into extra-time.
South Africa, however, kept their composure and Leyds ultimately proved the difference, crossing in extra-time to seal a hard-fought victory.
Photo: Archive of Tristan Leyds by GettyImages