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NZ again Blitzbokke's nemesis

Cape Town - New Zealand continued their dominance over South Africa after beating the Blitzbokke 19-12 in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Sevens on Sunday.

New Zealand led 12-5 at half -time.

It was the second time in two days that the New Zealanders got the better of their Bok rivals after also winning 19-10 in pool stage play on Saturday.

The Blitzbokke were again under pressure from the word go on Sunday, with only some suspect handling from New Zealand keeping them from troubling the scorers.

Their dominance was rewarded though midway through the first half when Jack Wilson scored a sensational try from his own goal-line. Wilson, the son of former All Black Brett, ran a full 100 metres to score.

Tomasi Cama converted for a 7-0 lead.

Lolagi Visinia scored a minute later to stretch the lead to 12 points.

However, the Blitzbokke fought bravely towards the end of the first period and were rewarded when Cornal Hendricks bashed over on the stroke of half-time to reduce the gap to seven points.

South Africa received a major boost early in the second period when Kiwi captain DJ Forbes was sin-binned for a deliberate knock down. And they took full advantage of their numerical advantage when Boom Prinsloo scored close to the touchline. Branco du Preez kicked a tough conversion to level matters (12-12) with five minutes left.

But South Africa's joy was short-lived though, and with Forbes now back after his yellow card, the Kiwis regained the momentum as South Africa seemed to struggle in the contact situations, often driven of the ball in ruck situations.

With three and a half minutes left Tim Mikkelson broke through to score under the posts. Cama converted for a 19-12 lead, a lead they held until the end with South Africa unable to break the stranglehold of a clearly superior team - especially on the physical front.

New Zealand will now play Fiji in the Cup final after the Islanders beat England 14-7 in their semi-final.

South Africa will play England in the third-place playoff.
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