Senatla leads SA to victory

SCORING HERO: Seabelo Senatla. Picture: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix. SCORING HERO: Seabelo Senatla. Picture: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix.

Seabelo Senatla came off the bench to score a match-winning try for the Blitzboks in their first match at the Dubai Sevens on Thursday evening.

Given a big scare by fellow Africans Kenya, South Africa had to come from behind to win the Pool D clash.

But it was Senatla’s second-half try in the right corner that made it 17-12 in favour of South Africa after Kenya enjoyed a 12-5 lead at the break.

His score set up a nervy finish, with Kenya taking the ball through a number of phases before the Bokke forced a knock-on.

GOOD START: Neil Powell is happy with his sides start. Picture: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix.

A relieved SA captain, Shakes Soyizwapi, said after the final whistle: “The guys were a bit over-eager in that match.

“We need to get back to basics and work on the processes.”

SA started like a house on fire and got the first touchdown of the match via Ryan Oosthuizen after every single player in the team handled the ball.

But they relaxed after that and poor defence and a swak ball handling allowed Kenya to dot down twice and take the lead heading into the break.

Rosko Specman then showed some incredible footwork to score straight after the restart (12-12).

That’s when coach Neil Powell introduced big-gun Senatla.

%%%twitter https://twitter.com/Blitzboks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Blitzboks’ @speckmagic back torching turf at the #Dubai7s pic.twitter.com/gRSJdYslN0

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s)

And after Chris Dry was held up in-goal, the Boks won a scrum and Senatla scored in the right corner to make it 17-12.

SA face Spain (11.48am) and England (5.54pm) in their other Pool D matches on Friday.