Securing a 17-7 win against the Canadians did not come without a fight for the Blitzboks. The game was opened by Canada’s Alex Russel scoring a try early in the game. Russel beat two tackles in pursuit of the tryline and Blitzbok coach, Sandile Ncgobo, made it clear that the team could’ve done better in defence.

“It’s not to say that we didn’t defend but that try that Canada scored, it wasn’t worth the struggle, we needed to control the ball,” stated Ngcobo.

South Africa came back hereafter with Muller du Plessis ensuring they didn't end the first half without a score to their name. Just before the first half ended, Muller scored a try putting the score at 7-5 at half-time with Canada in the lead.

The second half saw a strong start with a try from Shilton van Wyk and later, Ryan Oosthuizen cementing their win with another try just before the end of the game.

Despite the victory, Blitzbok coach, Sandile Ngcobo, believes the team has a lot of work to do in terms of defence and control if they are to secure the title.

Tomorrow, Saturday the 10th of December, the Blitzboks will face Fiji at 11:19 and later in the day they are set to go head-to-head against France at 17:00 in what will be their final pool game. 

Kayla Barker/OFM Sport