Cape Town – The Springbok Sevens managed to salvage some pride at the Hong Kong Sevens by beating Australia 14-12 in the third-place playoff on Sunday.
After losing 12-7 to New Zealand in the last minute of extra time in the semi-final earlier in the day, the Blitzboks pulled themselves together and produced a much better performance to earn 17 valuable log points, although they have now dropped down from second to third on the World Rugby Sevens Series standings.
Australia had a chance to grab a late win as James Stannard had a last-gasp penalty goal-kick, but he pushed his effort wide as the South Africans – who have never won this tournament – repeated their third-place finish in Hong Kong from 2015.
In a repeat of last year’s Cup final, Fiji defended their Hong Kong title successfully with a convincing 21-7 victory over New Zealand.
The South Africans seemed to play with greater freedom than in the semi-final against the Kiwis, where they made numerous unforced errors and battled to hold on to the ball in the slippery Hong Kong conditions.
Neil Powell’s team started off with a bang when captain Kyle Brown – restored to the starting line-up after mysteriously playing most of the tournament off the bench – broke the line, while there were some brilliant offloads in the tackle, which saw Cecil Afrika dot down.
Soon after that, Siviwe “Shakes” Soyizwapi showed some clean heels to the Aussie defence as he was released down the left flank, and the Blitzboks raced into a 14-0 lead.
The Australians weren’t to be outdone, though, as they scored the try of the match through a well-worked set move from inside their own half where the ball was taken through a number of phases, before Sam Myers rounded off.
The Blitzboks seemed to tire the longer the game wore on, following their marathon semi-final defeat, and the Australians took full advantage as Boyd Killingworth won a turnover inside the South African 22, and he eventually scored as well. The conversion was missed, and the Blitzboks held on to a 14-12 lead.
They nearly produced a third try when Afrika pulled off a near-perfect cross-kick, but the ball beat Soyizwapi into touch in-goal.
Coach Neil Powell would’ve been relieved to see Stannard’s penalty from about 35 metres out miss the uprights, but will wonder how his normally consistent and accurate team had managed to make so many handling errors in the semi-final, despite the wet conditions.
Fiji picked up 22 log points with their 16th Hong Kong title to extend their lead at the top of the log to five points as they moved to 128, while New Zealand jump past South Africa (122) into second position on 123.
The Blitzboks drew Kenya, Scotland and Russia for the Singapore Sevens taking place next weekend, and the South Africans will hope to bounce back as there are just three tournaments left in the World Sevens Series.
Points-Scorers
South Africa – Tries: Cecil Afrika, Siviwe Soyizwapi. Conversions: Branco du Preez (2).
Australia – Tries: Sam Myers, Boyd Killingworth. Conversion: James Stannard (1).
Draw for Singapore Sevens
Pool A: Fiji, England, Samoa, Portugal
Pool B: New Zealand, USA, France, Canada
Pool C: South Africa, Kenya, Scotland, Russia