Blitzboks safely into quarter-finals of Olympic qualifiers in Harare

This after they put in a commanding display at the Harare Sport Club on Saturday by winning all three of their pool matches.

The Blitzboks scored 120 points and only conceded 14 in a strong display, which yielded wins over Cote d'Ivoire, Tunisia and Madagascar, with the latter the only team to cross the Blitzboks' tryline.

In their opening match against Ivory Coast, the South Africans were a bit rusty with a couple of handling errors, but they totally dominated their West African opponents. Christie Grobbelaar scored within 24 seconds of the kick-off to set the tone, with Rosko Specman bagging two more for a 17-0 lead at the break.

With their opponents showing little interest in the ball, the Blitzboks managed to keep their composure, especially in the second half, where two yellow cards were shown to the Ivory Coast. Specman got two more, with Donovan Don and Travis Ismaiel also dotting down for a commanding 39-0 win.

The pace and cohesion of the Blitzboks proved too much for Tunisia and won their second game of the day by 43-0.

The Blitzboks started with a strong piece of set play with Ronald Brown going over in the corner in the third minute of play, quickly followed by Don, who bagged a second try early in the second half as well. Shilton van Wyk was also full of running and his brace was well deserved.

The third match against Madagascar was one-way traffic as well, but the Springbok Sevens will admit that that they had some lapses of concentration in this clash. They won 38-14 after the Malagasy side scored two late tries right at the end of the game.

The Blitzboks started like a house on fire with Shilton van Wyk dotting down within the first minute, followed by Donovan Don a minute later. Selvyn Davids added to the tally just before the break for a 17-0 lead at the break.

The second half started with a second Davids try after he bamboozled the Madagascar defense with a sniping run before Ricardo Duarttee stepped inside several defenders for his try. He converted for a 31-0 and when he converted Impi's Visser's fine try, the lead jumped to 38-0.

RESULTS

South Africa 39 (17), Ivory Coast 0

Blitzboks - Tries: Rosko Specman (4), Christie Grobbelaar, Travis Ismaiel, Donovan Don. Conversions: Justin Geduld, Ronald Brown.

South Africa 43 (19), Tunisia 0

Blitzboks - Tries: Ronald Brown, Donovan Don (2), Shilton van Wyk (2), Selvyn Davids, Ricardo Duarttee. Conversions: Brown (2), Ricardo Duarttee (2).

South Africa 38, Madagascar 14

Blitzboks - Tries: Shilton van Wyk, Donovan Don, Selvyn Davids (2), Ricardo Duartee, Impi Visser. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (4).

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