Ruthless Blitzboks crush New Zealand to book spot in Hong Kong Cup final
· The South African
The Blitzboks hammered New Zealand 26-14 in a one-sided semi-final clash in Hong Kong on Sunday morning.
The Blitzboks came into this encounter with a mixed bag of performances and results so far at the tournament. They battled past Uruguay, lost to Spain and whacked Argentina in the pool stage before snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against Kenya in the quarter-finals.
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History is also firmly against the Blitzboks, a team who has never tasted success in Hong Kong in the tournament’s 50-year existence.
With a final against Argentina looming, the South Africans now have a golden opportunity to change their fortunes and rewrite the script in Hong Kong.
FIRST HALF RECAP: BLITZBOKS SEIZE CONTROL
With and without the ball, South Africa dictated territorially by pinning New Zealand back in their own half. Defensively they suffocated the Kiwis, and were more physically dominant in contact and at the breakdown.
All that pressure eventually took its toll on New Zealand’s defence when Tristan Leyds flew down the right flank to score unopposed.
The Kiwis were then reduced to six players with Roderick Solo sent to the naughty chair for a deliberate off the ball tackle. And in an energy-sapping sequence, the South Africans took the ball through multiple energy-sapping phases in the lead-up to a second try, this time scored by Sebastiaan Jobb for a 14-point lead at the break.
SECOND HALF RECAP: SOUTH AFRICA TURN OFF THE FINESSE
The red-hot Blitzboks took their level of play up a gear at the restart, shifting the focus from a physically-orientated game to out-right attack.
This brought further tries for Shilton van Wyk and Ryan Oosthuizen, which gave the Blitzboks a handsome 26-point buffer.
New Zealand went on to score two late consolation tries, but by then the damage had already been done.