Great Britain deservedly beat a stuttering Blitzboks 19-14 in Bordeaux, ending the Blitzboks' six-match winning streak over Great Britain.
Great Britain started like a house on fire, but could not convert their dominance into points until a missed tackle by the Blitzboks gifted 7 points after 3 minutes of play in the first half. Two minutes later, another missed tackle saw Great Britain score their second try, to lead 14-00 after six minutes of play in the first half. With time running out, Ricardo Duarttee sniped from the back of a scrum to cut Great Britain’s lead to 14-07 at the halftime break.
Ricardo Duartee intercepted to score a long-distance try and level the scores at 14-14 early in the second half. With the teams locked at 14-14 with time up, they will go into extra time, with the team scoring first winning.
A yellow card to Ricardo Duartee gave Great Britain the space to score the winning try after three minutes of play in extra time.
Scorers:
Blitzboks: Tries: Ricardo Duarttee (2). Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (2).
Great Britain 7s: Marcus Kershaw, Darcy Graham, Finley Lloyd-Gilmour. Conversions: Kaleem Barreto (2).
Teams:
Blitzboks: Ryan Oosthuizen, Jayden Nell, Zain Davids, Sebastiaan Jobb, Quewin Nortje, Tristan Leyds, Ricardo Duarttee. Replacements: Donavan Don, Shilton van Wyk, Selvyn Davids, David Brits, Impi Visser.
Great Britain: Marcus Kershaw, Charlton Kerr, Ethan Waddleton, Matt Davidson, Finley Lloyd-Gilmour, Darcy Graham, Kaleem Barreto. Replacements: Ben Salmon, Ryan Apps, Brent Jackson, Jacob Henry, Roan Frostwick.