Shilton van Wyk scored a hat-trick of tries in a tight 24-21 victory over Fiji, crossing for the match-winner on the hooter after the Fijians conceded a scrum penalty and Ronald Brown took the quick tap, making it to within inches of the tryline before offloading to the speedster who only had to put the ball down for the win.

Even though they got the win, the Blitzboks conceded too many soft tries, but they will be very satisfied with the win against a team that beat them 28-10 in Dubai last weekend.

Fiji scored first after the Blitzboks missed a couple of tackles, but they responded almost immediately through Christie Grobbelaar, with Ricardo Duarttee's conversion making it 7-7.

Unfortunately, from the restart, Fiji broke through a couple of soft tackles again, with their second converted try making it 14-7 in the sixth minute. Van Wyk then got in on the action with his first try late in the half, but the conversion sailed wide and Fiji held a 14-12 lead at the break.

It was 21-12 three minutes into the second half when Fiji grabbed their third try, but as Blitzbok coach Philip Snyman emptied the bench, the momentum started shifting, with the Fijians' discipline letting them down.

Van Wyk scored his second try, through a bit of luck with the bounce of the ball, converted by Brown, with a minute to go and completed the hat-trick shortly thereafter for a great win in their pool opener.

Shilton van Wyk in action against Fiji.

The Blitzboks had to dig deep against New Zealand, who beat Great Britain by 29-12 in their pool opener, after conceding two yellow cards in the first half, spending most of the opening stanza on defence and hardly getting their hands on the ball.

With Impi Visser in the bin for a high tackle, New Zealand scored an third-minute try, and not long after the Blitzbok captain returned to the field, Van Wyk was sin-binned. The South Africans had to work very hard on defence and managed to keep the Kiwis at bay.

Donavan Don scored from the second-half restart as the Blitzboks managed to retain possession through a number of phases, working the ball left and then back into space on the right, where the speedster was waiting. The try was converted and with six minutes to go, scores were level at 7-7.

Van Wyk then compensated for his yellow card by scoring the Blitzboks' second try, grabbing a loose ball behind New Zealand ruck and racing away for the points, with the conversion pushing South Africa into a 14-7 lead in the 11th minute.

They sealed the deal with 40 seconds to go when Ronald Brown crossed for a superb try, with the TMO confirming the grounding was good. New Zealand scored a consolation try after the buzzer, but the win was in the bag for the Blitzboks, whose final pool match is at 19h41 against Great Britain, who lost 21-17 to Fiji in their second pool game.

Scorers:

Springbok Sevens 24 (12) Fiji 21 (14)
Blitzboks - Tries: Christie Grobbelaar, Shilton van Wyk (3). Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee, Ronald Brown.
Fiji - Tries: Apete Narogo, Viwa Naduvalo, Joseva Talacolo. Conversions: Terio Veilawa, George Bose.

Springbok Sevens 19 (0) New Zealand 14 (7)
Blitzboks - Tries: Donavan Don, Shilton van Wyk, Ronald Brown. Conversions: Tristan Leyds, Brown.
NZ - Tries: Tone Ng Shiu, Scott Gregory. Conversions: Sofai Notoa-Tipo, Riley Williams.