The Blitzboks made a sluggish start to the defence of their HSBC World Sevens Series title by beating Uganda 19-10 in their opening match in Dubai.

The Blitzboks were rusty in their Pool A clash against spirited opponents‚ with Uganda scoring two second-half tries to fire a warning shot across the SA bows.

Uganda and the Blitzboks had met on three previous occasions and the east Africans had never even scored a point against SA.

Solomon Okia made history when he burst away for Uganda’s first try against the Blitzboks early in the second half after Ruhan Nel and Philip Snyman scored first-half tries for the defending champions.

From the restart to Okia’s try‚ Blitzbok playmaker Cecil Afrika broke from deep to set up Tim Agaba for the team’s third try.

On the stroke of full time Philip Wokorach scored Uganda’s second to give them some momentum going into the ‘easier’ matches in Pool A against Kenya and Canada.

Kenya beat the Canadians 29-15 in their opening match.