BlitzBoks beat Fiji on the way to semifinals
DAY TWO WRAP: Hosts South Africa stayed on course to end their Cape Town drought as they reached the semifinals of Round Three of the World Sevens Series.
Having only won once in Cape Town, 2015, the first year in which the event was held in the Mother City, ending the drought is a big deal for the BlitzBoks.
With the home crowd behind them, South Africa took on Great Britain in the last match of Day Two – to conclude the quarterfinals.
Ryan Oosthuizen’s try converted by Ricardo Duarttee gave South Africa a 7-0 advantage before Morgan Williams scored, converted by Tom Emery, made it 7-all at the break.
Duarte’s seven-pointer early in the second half had South Africa up again before Femi Sofolarin replied in kind and it was 14-all with a few minutes left.
Dalvon Blood was the man who scored the winning try for the home side, Duarttee converting as they progressed 21-14.
Moses Leo led the way with a hat-trick of tries as New Zealand defeated Uruguay 50-0 in the first Cup last eight tie.
Caleb Tangitau scored two tries and Che Clarke and Roderick Solo also crossed for the victors, but Uruguay can hold their heads high for getting this far.
Tuna Tuitama (two), Paul Scanlan and Vaa Apelu Maliko scored tries for Samoa in the second quarter-final as they got the better of Argentina 22-10. Rodrigo Isgro and Agustin Fraga were the try scorers in defeat for Argentina.
An early try from Manueli Maisamoa which was converted by Waisea Nacuqu gave Fiji a 7-0 lead versus USA next up early on.
However, the United States found their form in the second period and tries from Joe Schroeder, David Still and Malacchi Esdale – along with one conversion from Steve Tomasin – saw them progress to the semi-finals 17-7.
All of that means that New Zealand and United States will meet in the last four and Samoa will take on South Africa on Day Three.
Results
Quarterfinals
New Zealand 50 Uruguay 0
Samoa 22 Argentina 10
United States 17 Fiji 7
South Africa 21 Great Britain 14
Pool stages
All four of the men’s pools were tight with matches two and three being played by all teams on day two.
In Pool A, South Africa had beaten Canada on Friday and they backed that up to be the only team winning all three matches pre-knock-out.
Pool A began on day two with France edging out Canada 19-12, Jonathan Laugel, Aaron Grandidier and Thomas Carol scoring their tries.
South Africa then went 7-0 down to Fiji early on, but roared back with tries from Shilton van Wyk, Muller du Plessis and JC Pretorius to take this one 17-7.
Later in the day, Fiji took out their frustration from that game on Canada, beating them 36-17 with tries coming from Filipe Sauturaga, Paula Nayacakalou, Pilipo Bukayaro, Manueli Maisamoa (2) and Waisea Nacuqu.
South Africa than kept their 100 percent record intact when they saw off France 26-7, du Plessis, Dalvon Blood and van Wyk (2) with the tries.
That all meant that South Africa, as Pool winners, and France went through to the Cup quarter-finals.
Day two in Pool B opened up with Samoa thumping Japan 45-0 and then Uruguay caused a big shock by defeating Ireland 22-19.
The tries for the victors came from Diego Ardao, Mateo Vinals and Ignacio Facciolo (2) with Guillermo Lijtenstein kicking a conversion to give them a famous triumph.
Later in the day, they took confidence from that performance to beat Japan 33-5, Tomas Etcheverry, Ardao, Vinals, James Mc Cubbin and Facciolo with the tries.
Converted tries by Mark Roche, Hugo Lennox and Harry McNulty gave Ireland a 21-14 win over Samoa as those two teams and Uruguay all finished on seven points.
In the end, Samoa, as Pool winners, and Uruguay went through to the Cup quarter-finals.
Pool C kicked off the men’s action on day two and Argentina got the better of Spain 26-0, Alejo Lavayen, Matías Osadczuk and Agustin Fraga (2) scoring their tries.
New Zealand then defeated Kenya 31-5, Akuila Rokolisoa, Roderick Solo, Moses Leo, Brady Rush and Caleb Tangitau their try scorers.
Kenya and Spain then drew 5-5 later in the day, Eduardo Lopez opening the scoring for the latter and Nelson Oyoo replying for the former just after half-time.
Then, in one of the games of the day, New Zealand managed to edge out Argentina 21-15.
A late Solo try, converted by Rokolisoa, got them over the line and it meant that they topped the Pool with Argentina second and both progressed to the Cup last eight.
Pool D began on day two with two comprehensive wins, Australia seeing off Uganda 31-0 and then USA getting the better of Great Britain 36-5.
Later in the day, Freddie Roddick, Api Bavadra, Ross McCann, Max McFarland (2) and Jamie Barden bagged tries as Great Britain returned to form by defeating Uganda 38-5.
A late unconverted try from Henry Hutchison then gave Australia a 19-19 draw with USA.
That all meant that USA, as Pool leaders, and Great Britain were through to the Cup quarter-finals with Australia finishing third.
Results
Pool A
France 19 Canada 12
South Africa 17 Fiji 7
Fiji 36 Canada 17
South Africa 26 France 7
Pool B
Samoa 45 Japan 0
Uruguay 22 Ireland 19
Ireland 21 Samoa 14
Uruguay 33 Japan 5
Pool C
Argentina 26 Spain 0
New Zealand 31 Kenya 5
Kenya 5 Spain 5
New Zealand 21 Argentina 15
Pool D
Australia 31 Uganda 0
United States 36 Great Britain 5
Australia 19 United States 19
Great Britain 38 Uganda 5
