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Blitzbokke make it two from two

Port Elizabeth - The Springbok Sevens team made it two from two as they whitewashed Spain 38-0 in their second match at the Cell C Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

According to the supersport.com website, the Blitzbokke took a step upwards as they increased the pace against the weaker opposition and made sure of an excellent outing that saw new players Werner Kok and Kwagga Smith make an immediate impression

Branco du Preez opened the scoring with a superb switch from crowd favourite Cheslin Kolbe, with the diminutive dancing feet of Kolbe adding the second a minute later. When Chris Dry took a quick tap and ran through untouched, the writing was on the wall for Spain as they were 21-0 down at the break.

Things didn’t get better in the second half for the Spanish as the South Africa's coach, Neil Powell, rung the changes, bringing on three players and they were immediately rewarded when Kok went around the outside to score.

Kok added a second as he sliced through a hole after another impressive pass by Kolbe and the Blitzbokke finished the game off as Kwagga Smith took a beautiful gap to finish the game in style.

This came after the South Africans had opened their account with a workmanlike 24-7 win over Canada on a day filled with emotion as the tournament remembered former State President Nelson Mandela.

There was a minute’s silence before the Blitzbokke’s game against Canada and a fitting tribute later on by all 16 teams in a stadium named after the world icon and in a municipality that bears his name.

The Blitzbokke will have a tough game against Kenya in their final match in a repeat of the game they won last weekend in Dubai. Kenya, coached by former Blitzbokke coach Paul Treu, beat Spain and Canada in their two pool outings of the day.

The big clash will be at 19:58 tonight, the final game of day one of the tournament.

In other games, both Fiji and New Zealand swept aside opposition while Samoa beat England in the first grudge match of the day, but then lost to Argentina. The winner of the Argentina-England game is likely to join Samoa in the Cup competition.

Wales were upset 28-17 by Portugal and will need the Portuguese to lose to the USA in their final match to qualify alongside New Zealand for the next round.

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