2LT National News

Cape Town – The Blitzboks have finished the Hamilton Sevens in fourth place after losing comprehensively to New Zealand 29-7 in the Bronze final at the tournament.

After dominating the open exchanges, the Blitzboks opened the scoring when Siviwe Soyizwapi crashed over the posts for a try converted by Selvyn Davids and a 7-0 lead after 5 minutes.

New Zealand hit back straight away, spreading the ball wide to the left to send Iukarisitone James Ng Shiu over in the left-hand corner.

Andrew Knewstubb converted brilliantly from a tight angle to tie the match up at 7-7.

New Zealand grabbed the lead just on half-time with Tim Mikkelson crossing the whitewash.

Knewstubb added the extras for New Zealand to lead 14-7 at the break.

The home side started the second half strongly with some brilliant handling sending Ng Shiu over for his second try of the match and a 19-7 lead.

South Africa’s task was made even bigger when Werner Kok was given a yellow card for a late tackle. New Zealand made the extra man count, sending over Joe Ravouvou in the right-hand corner for a 24-7 led with just two minutes to play.

The home side added another on the stroke of full-time with Sam Dickson cruising over to give New Zealand a stunning victory.

Earlier, Fiji comprehensively outplayed the Blitzboks in their semi-final encounter, running out easy 29-7 winners.