Powell: Blitzboks outplayed physically by NZ

Cape Town - Although he was pleased with two pool wins at the Vancouver Sevens, Blitzboks coach Neil Powell says his team was outmuscled against New Zealand. 

South Africa lost their final Pool D encounter which saw New Zealand score two early tries in the first three minutes and race to a 21-0 lead at half-time.

Tries from Dylan Sage and Kyle Brown brought some respectability to the score but New Zealand scored two further tries themselves to win 33-14.

Powell believes the main problem is that his charges were physically dominated by New Zealand during the clash which meant they did not see much of the ball.

“We were certainly outplayed in the physicality stakes against New Zealand, especially in that first half where they scored three unanswered tries. They dominated us at the breakdown and we hardly had the ball.”

All is not lost with the Blitzboks now facing Australia in the quarter-finals.

Kick-off is at 20:08 (SA time).