Sevens Gold in Samoa
The South African team were in a contest with seven other teams – Australia, England, Fiji, Kenya, Samoa, Singapore and the Cayman Islands. Each team had 12 players born in 1997 or 1998.
The teams were divided into two pools of four teams each. Pool B had South Africa, England, Namibia and Singapore. They won their three pool matches, scoring 155 points and conceding 14 to England when they won 19-14.
That done, they played Samoa in the semifinal and won 29-0. This took them to the Final against Australia.
Australia had beaten Samoa (24-12), Cayman Islands (66-0) and Fiji (29-7) in pool matches and then beat England 26-7 in the semifinal.
South Africa built a huge lead in the Final and were up 24-5 at half-time. Australia came back in the second half but South Africa won 31-20.
Samoa beat England into third place.
The South African team: The South African team is Heino Bezuidenhout (Daniël Pienaar & Eastern Province), Curwin Bosch (Grey & Eastern Province), Hacjivah Dayimani (Jeppe & Golden Lions), Donovan du Randt (Glenwood & KwaZulu-Natal), Nico Leonard (Paul Roos & Western Province), Manie Libbok (Outeniqua & South Western Districts), Khanya Ncusane (Paarl Boys' High & Western Province), Mfundo Ndlovu (Standerton & Pumas), Embrose Papier (Garsfontein & Blue Bulls), JC Pretorius (HTS Middelburg & Pumas), Johan Visser (Paarl Gim & Western Province) and Damian Willemse (Paul Roos & Western Province).
