Blitzboks fall at final hurdle in Vancouver

A late comeback wasn’t enough to clinch victory against the odds for the Springbok Sevens side, as they lost 19-14 to Argentina in the final of the Vancouver Sevens in the early hours of Monday morning (SA time).

Argentina secure the four-peat in Vancouver! 🤯#HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSVAN pic.twitter.com/qbe0wlwrL3

— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) February 24, 2025

The Blitzboks pulled out the heroics to beat Fiji in the semifinal with six men, but the toll that took on the team showed in the start of the final a few hours later, as Argentina raced to a 12-0 halftime lead and a 19-0 lead two minutes into the second half before the Blitzboks found their feet.

Two late tries made it a closer contest, but it wasn’t going to be enough as the defending World SVNS Series champions won their fourth straight Vancouver title to underline their dominance in the Series at the moment, and added to their Perth title won a few weeks ago.

The Blitzboks move into fourth spot on the standings and while they didn’t win the trophy, coach Philip Snyman can be proud that his side have made themselves a real presence since he was appointed fulltime - winning in Cape Town and a semifinal appearance in Perth to add to the growing consistency they are fostering.

DEFENCE STRETCHED

It was two early tries by speedster Luciano Gonzalez in the first half that stretched the Blitzbok defence beyond what they could take, and then a brilliant ruck steal by Tobias Wade turned into a third try that he started and finished to take his team 19 points up.

Quewin Nortje started the fightback with a run on the tramlines, backing himself as he beat two cover tackles and ran 60 metres to score the Blitzboks first try.

Siviwe Soyizwapi added a second shortly afterwards but the Blitzboks weren’t able to break the defence a third time to run the Pumas closer, and had to settle for the silver medal.

Earlier, the Blitzboks went down to six men after losing Sebastian Jobb to a red card for a clash of heads, but produced the most amazing win with Donavan Don scoring in the final minute to give them a famous victory over Fiji.

With time ticking down, and six-man Blitzboks down to attacking in their own half, Tristan Leyds looked as if he was out of options, stabbing through a grubber for a chasing Selvyn Davids.

The bounce eluded Davids and half the Fijian team, but stood up for Don, who grubbered it through, collected and scored close to the posts for a crucial last minute score.

Davids put over the conversion to steal the game for the Blitzboks, running out the shot clock to ensure there was no kick off afterwards.

The next tournament is in a month’s time in Hong Kong as part of a back to back double leg with Singapore.