Blitzboks beaten, bruised and battered by New Zealand as London Sevens ends in misery

The Springbok Sevens’ horrible season was typified by their London Sevens series, which ended with a 32-21 defeat to New Zealand on Saturday.

The HSBC World Sevens Series has been unkind to South Africa this season and the last tournament of the circuit ended with the Blitzboks not registering a single Pool A win after losing to Great Britain, New Zealand and tying with the USA.

A young team that’s not just struggled under a new regime – new coach Sandile Ngcobo took over from Neil Powell last year – has also battle injuries and loss of rhythm and a clear pattern of playing.

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The torrid London leg also spelt the end of their automatic qualification chances for the Paris 2024 Games but they’d have to win an African qualifying tournament to get in through the back door.

In their final pool game on Saturday, the Blitzboks got off to a desperate start when they conceded a penalty almost right from kick-off, which allowed New Zealand to poke in front early through a Akuila Rokolisoa first-minute try.

Not long after, Che Clarke added a second for the men in black when New Zealand again profited from a breakdown penalty, ran it through their silky hands to score in the same right-side corner.

Rokolisoa added a third Kiwi score before the break as South Africa just couldn’t gain sight of good possession to strike anything meaning the other way.

Rokolisoa’s hat-trick was complete even before the half-time hooter sounded when he rounded off his team’s fourth try for a 20-0 midway lead over SA.

A minute into the restart, Impi Visser at last got South Africa into the game when he used good speed and positioning to run in under the sticks.

But the Blitzboks’ poor