The Blitzboks scored four tries in each half and never really looked bothered by Mexico, who unfortunately had a player red-carded, something that did not help their cause at all.

South Africa scored some well worked tries, with Quewin Nortje again bagging a brace in the first half, after an opening try by Shilton van Wyk. Christie Grobbelaar also scored after a long pass found him unmarked to go over in the corner.

With Mexico having only six players on the field in the second half, they could not stop all the gaps and leaked four more.

Team captain Selvyn Davids said: “We are happy with the first game. I think we laid a solid foundation, did our basics well and did what the coaches asked of us. We knew that if we look after the system, the system will look after us.

“It’s going to get much tougher now. The next game is going to be more physical then today, we expect Tonga to come out all guns blazing so we just have to stick to what we do best.

“Obviously we have to take it game by game. Sunday is going to be important, but we need to focus on each game until then.”

The three main contenders, Spain, Great Britain and South Africa, all top their respective pools after winning their opening matches.

The Blitzboks fixtures for Saturday are:

13h44: Tonga

17h56: Chile

Scorers:

Springboks Sevens 44 (24), Mexico 0 (0)

SA - Tries: Quewin Nortje (2), Shilton van Wyk, Christie Grobbelaar, Tristan Leyds, Impi Visser, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Tiaan Pretorius. Conversions: Tristan Leyds (2).