South Africa lived up to their tag as pre-tournament favorites to claim the HSBC Canada Sevens at BC Place by defeating Kenya in the final on Sunday.
South Africa beat Kenya 38-5, in what was only the second all-African Cup final ever, in a match that saw a number of records set by the impressive Blitzboks in Canada. The last time two African sides met in a HSBC Sevens final was in 2008 in Adelaide.
The 38 points they scored were the highest number of points scored by any team in a Series Cup final in Canada while the 38 tries they ran in during the tournament was also a record.
Angelo Davids, who scored 10 of South Africa’s tries, became the first player to register double figures for a single tournament in Canada. He also became the first player to score 10 tries in a Series event since France’s Terry Bouhraoua did so at Cape Town in 2017.
Blitzboks captain Siviwe Soyizwapi said the team was happy to bounce back from their underwhelming performance at the Tokyo Olympics and pick up another win in Vancouver following their success there in 2019.
“I am really proud of the boys. After a disappointing Olympic campaign, coming here we really tried to lick our wounds and put up a fight. I am so grateful we could come up with the victory. Hopefully, all Africans were proud today,” Soyizwapi said.
Meanwhile, Great Britain finished third in their HSBC Sevens Series debut by defeating Ireland 24-14 in a rematch of their pool stage encounter which had finished 7-7.
Regular core teams Argentina, Australia, Fiji, Japan, New Zealand and Samoa were unable to participate due to travel restrictions.
The second leg of the Canada Sevens will be held in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium on September 25-26.
