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Johannesburg - South Africa duly beat Korea 40-7 in the second round of the Hong Kong tournament in the IRB Sevens World series on Saturday, but it was a performance that was far from clinical and at times had coach Paul Treu shake his head in exasperation.
They Boks conceded turnovers, handled poorly and were not nearly as sharp as Treu would have liked against a side that didn't have the ability or experience to limit the Boks to the scoreline they did.
The Boks were pinned in their own half for a large portion of the second half, and only two tries right at the end helped them to a reasonable score.
The six tries, five of them converted, were scored by Kyle Brown (2), Ryno Benjamin, Cecil Afrika, Chris Dry and Hoffman Maritz. And although he only came on as a replacement, this was the first match in seven that newcomer Sampie Mastriet didn't score in.
** Should the Boks lose to Kenya in their third pool match, the scoreline against Korea could come back to bite them. It will leave them to rely on one of the two best points differentials of the second-placed sides in the six pools.
If they beat Kenya, the Boks will face the winner of Fiji and the United States' third-round clash in the quarter-final.
Should they have to rely on the count-out the Boks will play the third-round winner in the match between the New Zealand and Scotland, or the winner of the Samoa and Argentina clash, with form and ranking indicating the Kiwis and the South Islanders will be the possible opponents.
** New Zealand were clinical in winning their match against France 36-0, and have now scored 95 points to five in their two outings, while Fiji added a 45-7 win over Portugal to their 82- 7 win over Thailand in the first round.
With the United States getting a score of 62-0 against Thailand, they will be well-placed to advance to the quarter-finals with a points differential of 69 after beating Portugal 17-10 on Friday, on condition that they are not overrun by Fiji.
Russia, denied against Argentina when one of their "tries" was nonchalantly placed on the dead-ball line, gave Samoa a real run for their money in the second round before succumbing right at the end (24-12).
Home team Hong Kong surprised when they beat World Champions Wales 21-19 while Canada were made to sweat by China before winning 12-7.
Early second round results: Argentina 42 Italy 0, Scotland 42 Chinese Tapei 5, United States 62 Thailand 0, Canada 12 China 7, Hong Kong 21 Wales 19, South Africa 40 Korea 7, Samoa 24 Russia 12, Fiji 45 Portugal 7, Australia 33 Tonga 12, England Japan, Kenya Zimbabwe.
