By Gavin Rich.
The commentators put it perfectly – nobody does it in the desert like the South Africans do it. After the emphatic 21-5 win over Ireland in the final that gave them a record fourth successive HSBC Dubai Sevens title on Saturday evening, that was understatement.
The Blitzboks had got to the decider through a last gasp try from Shilton van Wyk that secured their advance at the end of a tight and thrilling semifinal, and it was the selfsame Van Wyk who got the show on the road for the Blitzboks as they came up against Ireland, who’d got their courtesy of an extra-time win over the USA.
Van Wyk cut through the Irish line as the Blitzboks ran the kick-off from out of their own half. He only had a few metres to move to score the winner in the semifinal but this time he ran two thirds of the length of the field to dot down between the posts. With Ricard Duarttee’s conversion, the reigning champions led 7-0 after less than a minute.
DUARTTEE THE FIND OF THE TOURNAMENT
Duarttee, perhaps the find of this tournament and surely destined to become a really big Sevens star, was very much involved in the wide to wide attack that sent Van Wyk in for his second try, and then came an intercept from skipper Shakes Soyizwapi as Ireland desperately tried to attack for some much needed points off the last move of the half. When Soyizwapi broke out it secured a 21-0 advantage at the break, and the Blitzboks were well on their way.
In the second half they had to rely on their big strength, their suffocating and aggressive defensive system, as they shut out the attempted Irish fightback by restricting it to what proved to be just a consolation try to Ned Kelly. That was with less than three minutes to go, so it was always quite comfortable for the Blitzboks once they got their halftime lead.
The Blitzbok’s got better and better with each game at the tournament after their disappointing start, which was a first game loss to Great Britain. After being so poor in Hong Kong before that, the Blitzboks desperately needed to stand up, and they did that after that loss to GB, growing incrementally with each game, and with it so did debutant Duarttee grow. It was fitting then that he took centre stage when the team celebrated with the trophy afterwards.
PERFECT MOMENT TO HIT FORM
It was the perfect time for the Blitzboks to hit form too, for they head to Cape Town now to their home tournament, where as always there will be a lot of pressure on them and high expectations on them next weekend. At least now they will head to South Africa with some confidence.
It didn’t look like the South Africans had any chance of keeping their hopes of a fourth successive title in the desert alive during the first half of the semifinal, with the Kiwis dominating the early exchanges in running up a 12-0 lead.
The All Blacks were out of the blocks straight away, with a series of explosive bursts and clever switches of direction eventually culminating in 19-year-old Caleb Tagintau going over in the corner. Tagintau then followed up with another try after some impressive running up the middle from LeRoy Carter, who was a constant thorn to the Blitzboks.
And the New Zealanders could have been even further ahead than 12-0 at the break as they came within a millimetre of scoring through Tagintau again, again after great work from Carter, but the referee adjudged with the help of the TMO that he had been held up over the line, with skipper Soyizwape effectively saving the match for his team by getting in underneath Tagintau.
DU PLESSIS TRY PUT THEM IN THE GAME
The Blitzboks got back into the game straight after halftime, with Muller du Plessis using his searing pace to round the New Zealand defence from the kick-off and then running the ball towards the posts to make the conversion easier.
With it suddenly being a five point game, the Blitzboks were re-energised, and after a brilliant bit of creativity from Soyizwape it was first tournament SA hero Ricardo Duarttee who crossed for the try. The successful conversion but the Blitzboks ahead for the first time, but were undone when a deft switch from the Kiwis deep inside their own half gave Akuila Rokilasoa the space he needed to run down the left flank to score a spectacular try.
The conversion made it a five point lead for New Zealand, so when Duarttee’s stepping set up Branco du Plessis for the equalising score, the conversion became all important with not much more than a minute to go. It was missed from a fairly kickable position, which meant extra time was beckoning. But when not long after that the All Blacks lost a player to the bin as they were guilty of repeated infringements as the Blitzboks put them under pressure with their attacking play, suddenly the game was there for the Blitzboks to win.
GREAT PATIENCE NETTED THE WINNER
They showed great patience as they built up with their one man advantage, and after two penalties enabled them to keep their attacking momentum going, Duarttee was held up just short of the line a minute beyond the hooter and Van Wyk was the man who was up to run the ball in off a quick tap for the try that sealed a 26-19 win amidst scenes of South African jubilation.
Earlier Ireland had won their way through to their first Dubai final by scoring a try in extra time following a 7-all draw in normal time to secure a 12-7 win over the more favoured USA team.
It was the 10th Dubai title for the Blitzboks. The Australians won the Women’s title for the third successive time with a good win over New Zealand in an entertaining final and will join the hosts in heading to Cape Town feeling like they are on the up.