Cape Town – The Springbok Sevens team on Saturday qualified for the Cup quarter-finals of the Scotland Sevens at Scotstoun Stadium and in the process secured a top four spot in the HSBC Sevens World Series points table.
This feat means that the South African side, who is leading the series, became the first to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, as the top four sides in this year’s series were given entry in Rugby Sevens at the Rio Games automatically.
They were followed by Fiji, shortly thereafter, joining hosts Brazil in next year’s tournament.
Both needed a quarterfinals berth to secure a spot in Rio.
The SA side will face Fiji in the quarter-finals on Sunday, after pool B wins over Samoa, Kenya and a 19-24 defeat against New Zealand.
They won 19-12 against Samoa after tries by Seabelo Senatla, Branco du Preez and Werner Kok and two conversions by Branco du Preez. They then came back from 0-5 down at halftime against Kenya to win 22-5. Senatla (2), Kyle Brown and Ruhan Nel scored against their African counterparts, with Cecil Afrika adding the conversion.
In the final pool match, the South Africans conceded two tries with Senatla sinbinned in the first half and although Rosko Specman and Stephan Dippenaar scored in the second half, they could not close the gap on New Zealand in time. They also lost Cecil Afrika with a knee injury during the game.
The Cup quarterfinal matches are:
Australia vs USA (12.58pm)
Fiji vs South Africa (1.20pm)
Canada vs England (1.42pm)
New Zealand vs Scotland (2.04pm) – ANA