Blitzboks storm into Vancouver quarters with gritty wins over NZ and Ireland

They must still take on Australia in their final pool match at 21h36 (SA time) on Saturday night, but the two wins in what is a very tough pool have already secured them a spot in the Cup quarterfinals to be played on Saturday.

The Blitzboks led 12-5 against New Zealand at the break and held on for a 12-10 win over the 2020 Vancouver champions, while they outscored Ireland four tries to one for a convincing 28-7 win, leading 14-7 at the break.

Against New Zealand, the defensive effort was particularly impressive. The Kiwis had the ball for six minutes of play and SA only for just over two minutes, but the men in black ran into a brick wall.

With an 81% tackle completion by the Blitzboks, more often than not, a New Zealand attack went side to side and then backwards.

Quewin Nortje scored a well-worked try three minutes in to open the scoring, with the Selvyn Davids conversion making it 7-0. Tone Ng Shiu pulled one back after crashing over shortly after, but Ronald Brown blitzed through for a 12-5 lead at the break.

The second half was a hard-fought affair, with the SA defence dominating. New Zealand managed a score a minute from the end, but the conversion was wide and South Africa played out the clock.

Against Ireland, Davids scored a lovely try in the opening minute, before Siviwe Soyizwapi dotted down four minutes in for a comfortable 14-0 lead.

Ireland pulled one back on the buzzer, but the second-half scoring was all green and gold.

Ricardo Duarttee waltzed through a couple of tackles before Sebastiaan Jobb made his return to the team full circle with a lovely run in the final play of the match.

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