Blitzboks to face Samoa in Cup quarters in Canada

The SA side started fairly slowly against Spain in their 31-12 win after conceding the first try of the match, but a strong second half carried them through. 

They then conceded two quick tries against Canada in a 19-14 win before a late try against Australia sealed a well-deserved 22-19 win.

Spain scored first and last in the match that saw the SA side cross the try line five times in what turned out an efficient, rather than spectacular performance.

Coming off three consecutive defeats in Singapore last weekend, the Blitzboks took a couple of minutes to get into their stride in the sixth tournament of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and even conceded an early try to a competitive Spanish outfit.

Their attacking abilities came to the fore after that, and South Africa scored three times in the first half and twice in the second to ease into the rest of the tournament.

Darren Adonis opened the scoring for the home side to rebuke the early Spanish try, followed by two tries in quick succession to skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi.

The SA side extended their try tally in the second half with Dewald Human and Impi Visser finishing off good flow on the attack before the Spanish side managed a late try in the final play.

Spain, who scored a famous win over the All Blacks Sevens at the same venue three seasons back, proved a handful, but also the ideal opponent to get the Blitzboks back to winning ways.

The Blitzboks kept their winning streak going in their second match against Canada, winning 19-14. 

They were up 12-0 at the break and in control as the host union made a number of errors in first-phase play.

The South Africans played a controlled game and after a couple of intrusive plays on attack, JC Pretorius was worked into space for a 5-0 lead. 

Ronald Brown scored a well-worked try just before the break and converted for a 12-0 lead.

Canada shocked the Blitzboks in the early exchanges of the second half, scoring two converted tries within a minute to take an unexpected 14-12 lead.

The South Africans, without Ryan Oosthuizen (calf) and Darren Adonis (ankle), kept their cool however and Selvyn Davids scored under the sticks soon after to restore the lead. 

The SA defence then countered a last Canada attack to secure the win.

The final pool match against Australia proved a real humdinger, with both sides scoring a number of long-range tries.

South Africa were on the board in the opening play, with Ronald Brown going over in the corner for a 5-0 lead. 

That was short-lived however, as Ben Marr scored a converted try to hand the lead back to Australia. 

Brown got a second soon after Zain Davids ran strongly, but again the Aussies struck back almost immediately with a try that started close to their own tryline. 

This time Matthew Gonzalez scored and with the conversion, they had a 14-10 lead at the break.

The men from Down Under also got the next score, again from way out, with Nick Malouf dotting down for a 19-10 lead early in the second half. 

Zain Davids pulled once back with a strong barge and the conversion by Shaun Williams cut the deficit to two.

That was wiped out one minute from time with JC Pretorius scoring after a good offload by Siviwe Soyizwapi. 

The South Africans then held out for a well-deserved win.

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