Blitzboks kick off Olympic campaign with Ireland victory
South Africa scored five tries to beat Ireland 33-14 and kick-off their Pool C campaign with victory on day one of the Rugby Sevens tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The Blitzboks scored two first half tries for a 14-7 lead at the break and added another three in the second for a strong start to their campaign.
Zain Davids opened the scoring for the Blitzboks before Impi Visser added a second try with less than six minutes gone. At this stage the South African defence had Ireland under pressure, but the Irish did manage a try before the end of the half.
Gavin Mullin got Ireland on the board before the break, but it was South Africa who struck first in the second half as Justin Geduld rose highest to claim a cross-field kick and dot down.
The try was just reward for Geduld who kicked deep from inside his 22 and thanks to a good kick chase, the ball was eventually recycled, with Geduld out-jumping the Irish defence.
Terry Kennedy grabbed his first Olympic try to give Ireland hope of a comeback, but the Blitzboks made sure of victory with an expertly taken Chris Dry effort in the same corner. That proved to be a happy corner for South Africa, with a late score from Stedman Gans in the same spot.
South Africa will now take on Kenya in the final match of day one at 12h00 (SA time).
Kenya slipped to an agonising 19-14 defeat to the USA in Tokyo in their opening pool match.
