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18-year-old All Black Sevens' injury call-up steps off plane and smokes the Blitzboks
By Ben Smith
All Blacks Sevens' Xavier Tito-Harris was called up as injury replacement for Moses Leo for the final leg of the World Sevens Series in London.
The 18-year-old only arrived to the UK on Thursday but the jet lag appeared to have no impact as he logged a second-half double on day one against South Africa in the final pool game of the day.
His first try came from deep inside New Zealand's 22 as he took on the Blitzboks' line, bursting through two defenders after a well-placed fend.
Tito-Harris showed his speed as he sprinted away from the cover defence over 80 metres to score in front of the Twickenham crowd.
Less than sixty seconds later he had his second after scooping up a loose pass after the restart.
He nudged the loose pass with a slight kick before skilfully regathering the ball in one motion diving over to score and extend the lead to 32-7 over South Africa.
After making his debut in Hong Kong earlier this year, Tito-Harris is the latest young emerging star for New Zealand along with Cody Vai and Payton Spencer, all of whom have debuted this year.
A late comeback saw the Blitzboks add some respectability to the final 32-21 scoreline but they couldn't stop the All Blacks Sevens qualifying for the Cup quarter-finals.
The New Zealand men's Sevens side showed no signs of slowing down after already claiming the Series title in Toulouse last weekend.
Pool stage wins over USA by 35-17 and Great Britain by 20-5 set up a quarter-final showdown with France.
In the other Cup quarter-finals Argentina face Ireland, Samoa face Great Britain and Fiji play Australia.
Australia and Samoa head into Sunday in a two-way battle for the last automatic Olympic Games qualification spot.
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Latest Comments
ABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
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