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Cape Town Sevens: Senatla shines as Blitzboks down Russia

The speedster's hat-trick in the Blitzboks 40-5 win over Russia placed him just one try shy of that 200-try record.

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The other noticeable result of Round one was the United States' 22-0 win over the All Blacks.

Round one wrap:

Pool A:

(South Africa, France, Kenya, Russia)

Blitzboks had an amazing start in front of their home crowd. Just four tries shy of the 200 tries, Seabelo Senatla scored the Blitzboks' first try.

Soon Branco Du Preez registered his name on the score sheet after great work by Cecil Africa, 12-0.

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The Russians settled down and made a nice break out wide, they recycled the ball to the middle and  Roman Roshchine made his way over the line to trail 5-12.

Senatla found space out wide and worked his way around the defence to score his second try, 19-5.

Just before the break, Senatla bagged a hat-trick to take his try-scoring tally to 199 and the Blitzbok to a 26-5 lead at the break.

In the second half, the Blitzboks kept the scoreboard ticking with tries by Tim Agaba and Rosco Specman for a comfortable 40-5 win over Russia.

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Kenya were the first to put the points on the board, after a solid build-up  Samuel Oliech went over the chalk for the try, 7-0.

With less than a minute on the clock, Kenya almost had a second score but scrappy work at the break down gave France an opportunity to counter-attack.

However, after a successful line-out, the Africans manoeuvred a counter-attack and scored a second converted try for a 14-0 lead at the break.

France appeared more composed in the second half and after a good build-up bagged their first try to trail 7-14.

Minutes later, a crucial intercepted ball by France gifted possession back to them tp levelled matters at 14-all.

Kenya again failed to find teammates in the middle of the park and France pounced on the mistakes. The French intercepted yet another ball and dotted down for a try, 21-14.

France went down to six men but kept their defence solid to secure the win.

Results:

South Africa 40-5 Russia

Kenya 21-14 France

Pool B

(New Zealand, Australia, Spain, USA)

In one of the most anticipated matches, the United States got the game underway against New Zealand.

The USA had a nervy start without the World Sevens Player of the year Perry Baker, but eventually found their feet. They produced a marvellous attack from their own half which  Carlin Isles concluded as he outpaced defenders for a try, 5-0.

Isles bagged his brace to give his side the 10-0 lead at the break.

In the second-half, New Zealand were under pressure, and the yellow card in the ninth minute did not help the All Blacks.

With the numeral advantage, the USA broke through the defence and scored their third, 17-0.

The USA made scoring look easy as, they produced their fourth try seconds before the final whistle.

In the other match, Simon Kennewell's hat-trick helped Australia took a 22-7 lead at the break.

From the kick-off, the Wallabies dominated proceedings as their scored four tries to one the first stanza.

Australia continued their dominance in the second half and Longbottom's try extended the lead to 29-7.

Spain eventually got their second try after a long-pass found Pla  out wide.

However, Australia had the last say as a runaway try got Hood over the line.

Results:

Australia 36-12 Spain

New Zealand 0-22 United States

Pool C

(England, Scotland, Argentina, Uganda)

It seemed like the Cape Town defending champions England were going to dominate the match as they took a 5-0 lead after just one minute.

However, the Africans proved to be a challenge as they produced consecutive attacks throughout the first seven minutes.

England's defence was forced to work hard to protect the narrow 5-0 lead at the break.

In the second stanza, England brought in the reliable Dan Norton, the speedster made a huge impact as he set-up England's second try and scored their third.

England turned on the class and manufactured three additionally tries for a 36-0 victory.

Scotland struggled to combat the pace of Argentina in the opening minutes and the South Americans took a 12-0 lead after just two minutes.

Scotland pulled one back just before the break thanks to Bryce and a conversion by Lowe.

The Scots started the second half on a perfect note as they took a narrow 14-12 lead in the second half.

However, Scotland's party was spoilt thanks to Moroni's try which handed Argentina a 19-14 win.

Results:

England 36-0 Uganda

Scotland 14-19 Argentina

Pool D

(Fiji, Wales, Canada, Samoa)

Fiji were absolutely sublime in the lopsided affair. They scored four tries in the first stanza to take a 28-0 to the lockers.

Wales only visited the Fijian's half ones in the first half.

However, in the second half, some minor individuals errors started to make an appearance in the Fijo set-up, which handed Wales a perfect opportunity to pull back one score for a 7-28 deficit.

With less than two minutes on the clock, Morgan Williams produced Canada's second try to trail 14-28.

Despite the fightback, Fiji's first-half performance was more than enough to claim the comfortable win.

The match between Samoa and Canada had a slow start, however, Canada enjoyed much of the possession and engineered two great tries to take a 10-0 lead after five minutes.

Samao gradually started to build some momentum. They sneaked in two converted tries courtesy of Alamanda Motuga and Tom Iosefo to take the lead at the break.

In the second half, Canada shifted the lead back in their favour with a great try by John Moonlight.

For a short period, it looked like Canada would secure the match, however, Iosefo scored his second try to snatch the late win for Samoa.

Results:

Samoa 19-17 Canada

Fiji 28-14 Wales

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