BlitzBoks book semifinal spot despite stumbling against Fiji
WRAP: South Africa’s Sevens team slipped on a banana peel in their third Pool game against Fiji, going down 14-20 at HBF Park in Perth on Saturday, but did enough to book their place in the Cup semifinals.
This is after the BlitzBoks got over their second hurdle with a narrow 19-12 win over Argentina.
Earlier, they bounced back with an impressive 33-14 win against Spain in their opener.
Philip Snyman’s men fought back from 12-14 down at HBF Park to triumph over Spain.
South Africa struck early when a second-minute scrum set up Tristan Leyds to send Shilton van Wyk through a gap from the 22 to score under the posts, with Ricardo Duarttee adding the extras.
Van Wyk was denied a second soon after, dragged down just short, but the Blitzboks quickly made it count as the ball was shifted wide for David Britz to finish untouched.
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Spain responded with sustained pressure late in the half, eventually breaching the defence when Jeremy Trevithick darted over beneath the posts on the hooter, Juan Ramos converting to cut the deficit to one score at the break.
Spain started the second stanza as they had finished the first, on the attack, and within two minutes Trevithick was over again in the corner. Ramos landed a stunning conversion to give Spain a shock 14-12 lead.
Spain were again on the attack after the restart, but a timely interception by Ryan Oosthuizen saw the Blitzboks turn defence into attack, and Zain Davids was on hand to round off. The conversion by Duarttee saw the Boks back in front 19-14 with three minutes left.
Zander Reynders then burst through a tiring defence to make the game safe for the Blitzboks as they eased into a 26-14 lead with the conversion by Donovan Don. There was still time for Luan Giliomee to score his first try in the SVNS series.
The BlitzBoks will face hosts Australia on day two in the semifinal after going down to Fiji in their Final pool match by 14-20.
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South Africa 33-14 Spain
The scorers:
Tries: Van Wyk, Brits, Davids, Reynders, Giliomee
Cons: Duarttee 2, Don 2
South Africa 19-12 Argentina
The scorers:
Tries: Grobbelaar, Davids, Don
Cons: Duarttee, Leyds
South Africa 14-20 Fiji
The scorers:
Tries: Davids, Jobb
Cons: Duarttee 2
*See all the Day One results below!
Women’s
USA 34-15 Fiji
New Zealand 34-12 Japan
Canada 12-24 France
Australia 54-5 Great Britain
USA 38-14 Japan
New Zealand 36-5 Fiji
Canada 45-7 Great Britain
Australia 26-12 France
Fiji 14-31 Japan
New Zealand 31-0 USA
France 42-10 Great Britain
Australia 38-10 Canada
Men’s
South Africa 33-14 Spain
Fiji 26-10 Argentina
France 36-10 Great Britain
New Zealand 14-21 Australia
South Africa 19-12 Argentina
Fiji 26-24 Spain
New Zealand 19-26 Great Britain
France 14-29 Australia
Spain 26-19 Argentina
Fiji 20-14 South Africa
France 21-26 New Zealand
Australia 24-21 Great Britain
Sunday, February 8
(Kick-off is local time – GMT plus eight hours)
Women’s
Fifth place semifinals
Japan v Great Britain (12.30)
Canada v Fiji (12.52)
Cup semifinals
New Zealand v France (14.13)
Australia v USA (14.35)
Men’s
Fifth place semifinals
Spain v Great Britain (13.14)
France v Argentina (13.36)
Cup semifinals
Fiji v New Zealand (14.57)
Australia v South Africa (15.19)
