Rugby: South Africa claim title at Vancouver Sevens

The Springboks lift the Vancouver Sevens trophy [Courtesy]

Defending World Series champions South Africa floored France 21-12 in the Canada Sevens cup final to clinch the title on Monday, March 11 at Vancouver, Canada.

The Springboks locked horns with the Blues in a tight contest to bag their first title of the year in the World Rugby Sevens Series since their last one in Paris last year.

Despite South Africa lacking the services of their veteran players tied to the Super Rugby competition, tries from Impi Visser, Selvyn Davids and Werner Kok were enough to secure victory over France, who were appearing in the first Cup final since 2012.

The Blues’ Pierre Gilles Lakafia and Stephen Parez scored a consolation try each for their side who finished 15^th in Las Vegas last weekend.

Speaking after beating France, South Africa captain Philip Snyman said that it was a crucial win for the team.

“It was a much needed win for our team and I think the boys played some fantastic rugby throughout the tournament,” Snyman said.

The Springboks locked horns with the Blues in a tight contest to bag their first title of the year [Courtesy]

“I’m really happy with the win and hopefully we can build on this one now,”

“There’s a lot of talent in this group and back home and I can’t wait to see everyone together as it was only a matter of time before this team started to gel,”

“They showed glimpses this week of what they can do and I believe there is a strong squad coming through,” Snyman added.

The Springboks were unbeaten in their pool matches mauling Chile 43-0 in their first match before beating Wales 19- 10 and humbling the Las Vegas Sevens champions USA 19-7.

Neil Powell’s men eased 33-12 past Argentina in the quarterfinals before nailing Fiji 31-12 in the semifinals.

South Africa are now fourth in the World Series standings with 89 points after collecting 22 points from the Vancouver Sevens as USA Sevens are ranked first in the Series with 113 points.