Cape Town Sevens LIVE: Blitzboks vs USA – scores, result and kick off time
Neil Powell’s Blitzboks finish off Pool A at the 2019 Cape Town Sevens with a potentially tricky fixture against USA (kick-off 20:03 on Saturday).
USA finished second to Fiji in the 2018-19 World Series, but have endured a tough start to the current campaign.
After a 26-5 defeat to New Zealand in the Dubai Cup quarter-finals, they slumped to a disappointing eighth-place finish. Cape Town has not been kind to them either, as they started off with a 28-14 loss to Fiji.
The Eagles Sevens responded with a 42-0 win over Japan, but will need to replicate that sort of performance against more illustrious opponents.
The home crowd at Cape Town Stadium gave the Blitzboks a massive boost against Fiji on Saturday afternoon, helping them overturn a 14-0 deficit to win 26-14 and leave them clear of the chasing pack.
This was a significant result against the defending World Series champions, but Blitzboks Coach Neil Powell is not getting carried away.
“It’s one game at a time. You can do well one game and then not so well in the next one,” Powell said.
“All we’re focused on is our next game. We’ll take nothing for granted and make sure that we leave everything on the field.”
Powell is wary of the threat posed by the USA, who lost last year’s Cape Town Sevens final to Fiji. Two players in particular appear to be in his thoughts.
“They will always be a dangerous team. There are a lot of game-breakers in that team like Carlin Isles and Perry Baker. Again, it’s up to our system,” he said.
South Africa lead Pool A with six points and a points difference of +61, while Fiji and USA have four points apiece. Fiji have a points difference of +2, but lead the USA on +28 due to their win over the Eagles Sevens.
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