VINA DEL MAR – The SA Rugby Sevens Academy team delivered a much-improved performance and will face Uruguay in the Cup quarterfinals of the SudAmerica Rugby Sevens tournament in Vina del Mar, Chile on Sunday.
The South Africans had a strong opening day, scoring a good win over Uruguay in their opening match on Saturday, before dispatching Brazil and Chile, winners last weekend of the Mar del Plata tournament in Uruguay.
The opening match against Uruguay showed how much the team learned from playing together last weekend and they scored a very convincing 34-12 win.
The match against Brazil was a tight affair, with the South Africans winning 14-7. They finished strongly against Chile, beating last weekend's champions 19-10.
“It was a much better effort from us on Saturday,” SA Rugby Sevens Academy coach, Marius Schoeman, said afterwards.
“Considering the fact that we started without Ryan Oosthuizen, who was forced out due to suspension, I am pretty pleased. We defended well and our attack proved strong. We scored heaps of tries, something that was lacking last weekend.”
The SA Rugby Sevens Academy beat Uruguay 12-34 on Saturday. Photo: @RugbyVina on twitter
Schoeman said the team will not underestimate Uruguay in the Cup quarter-final: “They beat us last weekend and we were very keen to change that result when we played them in our opening match. That result is something of the past now and we will start this match from scratch.”
In the other Cup quarterfinals, Argentina play Russia, Germany face Chile and Colombia take on Portugal.
The Cup quarterfinal against Uruguay kicks off at 18h10 (SA time).
SA Rugby Sevens Academy results:
Beat Uruguay 34-12
Beat Brazil 14-7
Beat Chile 19-10