By Brenden Nel.
The Springbok Sevens team kicked off their London Sevens campaign on a good note, downing HSBC World Sevens Series leaders Argentina 26-19 in their opening pool game.
The Blitzboks had a terrible weekend in Toulouse last weekend, prompting coach Neil Powell to call it the “worst performance of my career” as coach of the side and it was clear the team needed to respond.
This they did in a tense shootout with the Pumas, who currently are above them in the series standings, in the tournament’s Pool of Death.
It was Dewald Human’s try in the third minute that put them on the board, but it was quickly negated by a similar score to Tobias Wade.
Muller du Plessis crossed just before halftime to give the Blitzboks a 14-7 lead but it was never a game where they felt comfortable with their lead, as the Pumas continued to harass them at every breakdown.
James Murphy managed to extend the lead shortly after halftime but a double try hit by the Pumas – first to Olympic hero Marcus Moneta and then a minute later to German Schultz levelled the scores before Angelo Davids settled it with a late try to give the Blitzboks the winner.
They will next face Ireland, who beat them last weekend in pool matches and made the final in Toulouse at 2.22pm (CAT, GMT+2) before their final game of the day against Kenya at 5.08pm.