The Blitzboks defeated Papua New Guinea 36-5 and Russia 38-0 in their opening two pool games on day one of the Hamilton Sevens on Saturday.

The Blitzboks started their title defence of the New Zealand leg of the series strongly thanks to comfortable victories over two opponents who didn’t pose any attacking threat.

South Africa scored 12 tries in the first two games, with speedsters Seabelo Senatla and Rosko Specman claiming four tries apiece (both dotted down twice in each match).

The Blitzboks were quick out of the blocks in the first match against Papua New Guinea when they scored two tries in the opening two minutes of the contest. Papua New Guinea answered with a try of their own, but that would be their last points of the game.

A brace of tries from Senatla – one either side of the break – enabled South Africa to establish a 24-0 lead before Zain Davids and Specman raced away to score late in the second half.

South Africa were left frustrated in the first half of the clash against Russia, who withstood an attacking onslaught to keep the scores locked at 0-0. But on the stroke of half-time Specman breached Russia’s defence for a 7-0 advantage.

As expected, one try was all it took to open the floodgates. Specman and captain Kyle Brown went over to extend the Blitzboks’ lead early in the second stanza. Senatla then got on the scoresheet twice, using his blistering pace to good effect.

The final act of the one-sided game saw sevens rookie Sikhumbuzo Notshe apply the finishing touches with another well executed try.

The Springbok Sevens’ final pool game against the England starts at 08:06 (SA time).

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