Unbeaten Blitzboks into Cape Town semi-finals

The Springbok Sevens will face France in the HSBC SVNS Cape Town semi-finals at 12.22pm on Sunday after winning all three their encounters on Saturday to top Pool A, keeping alive their title defence aspirations at DHL Stadium.

The Blitzboks had to work hard for a 24-21 victory over Fiji before they cruised past New Zealand by 19-14 as most of the 36 183 spectators soaked up the sunny conditions, scintillating rugby and superb entertainment. Their final pool game, against Great Britain, ended in a 41-7 win for the South Africans, who grew in confidence as the day progressed.

In the opening game, Shilton van Wyk his third try on the hooter after the Fijians conceded a scrum penalty and Ronald Brown took the quick tap, making it to within inches of the tryline before offloading to the speedster who only had to put the ball down for the win.

Even though they won the game, the Blitzboks conceded too many soft tries but they will be very satisfied with the win against a team that beat them 28-10 in Dubai last weekend. Fiji scored first after the Blitzboks missed a couple of tackles, but they responded almost immediately through Christie Grobbelaar, with Ricardo Duarttee's conversion making it 7-7.

Unfortunately, from the restart, Fiji broke through a couple of soft tackles again, with their second converted try making it 14-7 in the sixth minute. Van Wyk then got in on the action with his first try late in the half, but the conversion sailed wide and Fiji held a 14-12 lead at the break.

It was 21-12 three minutes into the second half when Fiji grabbed their third try but as Blitzbok coach Philip Snyman emptied the bench, the momentum started shifting, with the Fijians' discipline letting them down.

Van Wyk scored his second try, through a bit of luck with the bounce of the ball, converted by Brown, with a minute to go and completed the hat-trick shortly thereafter for a great win in their pool opener.

The Blitzboks had to dig deep against New Zealand, who beat Great Britain by 29-12 in their pool opener, after conceding two yellow cards in the first half, spending most of the opening stanza on defence and hardly getting their hands on the ball.

With Impi Visser in the bin for a high tackle, New Zealand scored a third-minute try and not long after the Blitzbok captain returned to the field, Van Wyk was sin-binned. The South Africans had to work very hard on defence and managed to keep the Kiwis at bay.

Donavan Don scored from the second-half restart as the Blitzboks managed to retain possession through a number of phases, working the ball left and then back into space on the right, where the speedster was waiting. The try was converted and with six minutes to go, scores were level at 7-7.

Van Wyk then compensated for his yellow card by scoring the Blitzboks' second try, grabbing a loose ball behind New Zealand ruck and racing away for the points, with the conversion pushing South Africa into a 14-7 lead in the 11th minute.

They sealed the deal with 40 seconds to go when Ronald Brown crossed for a superb try, with the TMO confirming the grounding was good. New Zealand scored a consolation try after the buzzer, but the win was in the bag for the Blitzboks.

The South Africans shifted to a higher gear against Great Britain, scoring seven tries in a dominant victory, with Don grabbing a brace, while Nabo Sokoyi scored his first try on debut for the Blitzboks.

Don scored from the kick-off as the Blitzboks controlled the ball from the start, and a few minutes later, Duarttee went over as the hosts took control. Visser crossed two minutes later and David Brits scored on the stroke of half-time to give the hosts a 22-0 lead at the break.

Sokoyi scored his first try from a scrum shortly after the second half restart, stepping his way through the opposition defence and Grobbelaar had the last say for South Africa, before Great Britain scored a consolation try on the buzzer.

The other semi-final is between Argentina and Fiji (12.44pm), while Dubai champions New Zealand will contest the fifth-place semi-finals after losing two of their pool games.

In the men’s competition, newly crowned Dubai champions New Zealand and finalists Australia both missed out on the semi-finals in Cape Town, as the new-look HSBC SVNS format took a hard toll on the teams.

Defending Cape Town champions South Africa, however had no problem booking their place in the last four, winning all three of their matches to set up a Cup decider against France on Sunday.

In the other half of the draw, a much-improved Spain were denied a last four spot on points difference, after conceding a late try against a rejuvenated Argentina to gift the South American side a crucial bonus point that meant they topped the pool and were assured a quarter-final against Fiji.

France then did more than enough to claim second in the pool, leaving last season’s Grand Final runners-up facing another minor-places play-off run.

In the women’s competition, Dubai finalists New Zealand and Australia could be on a collision course for a second final in as many HSBC SVNS tournaments, after both going unbeaten on the opening day in Cape Town.

Jorja Miller overtook Maddison Levi in the season try-scoring rankings with a hat-trick in the final match of Pool A, as the Black Ferns Sevens went three-for three to top the table and set-up a semi-final against France.

Miller has 11 tries so far this season, one more than her Australian rival heading into finals day on Sunday.

Levi had a relatively quiet day by her standards, crossing the whitewash just three times. But Australia, who have never been beaten in Cape Town, eased to consecutive victories over France, Canada and Japan to set up their last-four match against USA on Sunday.

Scores

Springbok Sevens 24 (12) Fiji 21 (14)

Blitzboks - Tries: Christie Grobbelaar, Shilton van Wyk (3). Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee, Ronald Brown.

Fiji - Tries: Apete Narogo, Viwa Naduvalo, Joseva Talacolo. Conversions: Terio Veilawa, George Bose.

Springbok Sevens 19 (0) New Zealand 14 (7)

Blitzboks - Tries: Donavan Don, Shilton van Wyk, Ronald Brown. Conversions: Tristan Leyds, Brown.

NZ - Tries: Tone Ng Shiu, Scott Gregory. Conversions: Sofai Notoa-Tipo, Riley Williams.

Springbok Sevens 41 (22) Great Britain 7 (0)

Blitzboks - Tries: Donavan Don (2), Ricardo Duarttee, Impi Visser, David Brits, Nabo Sokoyi, Christie Grobbelaar. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (2), Selvyn Davids.

GB - Try: Roan Frostwick. Conversion: Frostwick.