BlitzBoks into Vancouver semis
WRAP: The Springbok Sevens defeated Australia 17-14 in the quarterfinals of the HSBC SVNS Vancouver to book a place in the semifinals, where they will face Fiji on Sunday.
Spain and Argentina will contest the other semifinal at BC Place on the tournament’s final day.
In an interesting development, South Africa had to play Australia twice on the second day in Vancouver after the Aussies pipped the BlitzBoks in their final Pool B match, with a “golden try” in extra time to secure their spot in the playoffs.
However, the BlitzBoks were much more clinical in the rematch. They were off to a storming start in the quarterfinal, scoring three tries in the first half to take a 17-0 lead, and despite a strong finish by Australia, the men in green and gold held out for a deserved victory.
Ronald Brown opened the scoring in the first minute of play, but it was rather the swarming South African defence that caught the eye.
Ryan Oosthuizen added a second four minutes later before Shilton van Wyk scored the third after running onto a beautiful inside pass from Selvyn Davids to dot down.
As was the case in the game earlier in the day, Australia came back well and scored twice in the last three minutes of the match, when South Africa conceded a yellow card and only had six men on the field.
In the other quarterfinals, Spain outplayed New Zealand (12-7), Fiji were too strong for Great Britain (24-0), and Argentina had the better of France (12-7).
● In their final pool match earlier on the day, Australia scored the golden try two minutes into extra time after the scores were locked at 12-12 when normal time was over.
The BlitzBoks scored first when Impi Visser dotted down, but a Henry Hutchison try equalled matters at the half-time whistle.
The Australians took the lead three minutes from time, but Shilton van Wyk scored in the corner, and Tristan Leyds converted to force the draw, only for the Aussies to break away in extra time.
The BlitzBoks still topped Pool B, with New Zealand finishing second and Australia third, but they made it into the quarters as one of the best two third-placed finishers.
Scorers:
Quarterfinal: South Africa 17-14 Australia
For South Africa:
Tries: Brown, Oosthuizen,Van Wyk
Con: Leyds.
For Australia:
Tries: Dowling, Turner. Longbottom 2
Pool match: South Africa 12-17 Australia
For South Africa:
Tries: Visser, Van Wyk
Con: Leyds
For Australia:
Tries: Hutchison, Paterson, JnTurner
Con: Longbottom
Men’s Quarterfinal results:
New Zealand 7-12 Spain
Argentina 12-7 France
Fiji 24-0 Great Britain
South Africa 17-14 Australia
Women’s Quarterfinal results:
USA 17-22 Japan
Brazil 0-46 Fiji
Great Britain 14-28 Australia
New Zealand 34-12 Canada
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