A late double from New Zealand’s Sofai Maka sent the Blitzboks crashing out of the Dubai SVNS quarter-finals on Sunday.
Quewin Nortje opened the scoring for the defending champions in the first half with Tristan Leyds adding the conversion to make it 7-0. The All Blacks were thwarted by the Blitzboks defensive effort but made the breakthrough with under a minute to play with speedster Ngarohi McGavrvey-Black making it 7-7 at the break.
Nortje scored his second early in the second half after a moment of Leyds magic opened up space in the All Blacks’ line to make it 12-7. The All Blacks responded through McGarvey-Black whose second of the day made it 14-12.
Donavan Don dotted down in the corner after a quick break, finishing a wonderful pass from Siviwe Soyizwapi to take it to 17-12. With less than a minute to play, Maka joined Nortje and McGarvey-Black with a brace of his own to secure a 24-17 result.
The All Blacks face Spain in the semi-final at 12:06pm while the Blitzboks face France at 3pm in the playoffs for fifth to eighth place.
Photo: Christopher Pike/Getty Images
