It was close but no cigar for the Blitzboks in Perth, as they narrowly lost to Fiji in the quarterfinals before finishing fifth overall on Sunday.
The Blitzies suffered consecutive defeats at the third leg of the World Sevens Series on Saturday and had to contest the fifth-place playoffs, where they beat France 24-5 at HBF Park.
Debutant Tristan Leyds scored his third try of the weekend and set up another to help Sandile Ngcobo’s manne klap the French, but South Africa dropped from second to fourth on the overall standings after this weekend’s action Down Under.
Series leaders Argentina thrashed Australia 31-5 in the final to claim their second crown of the season, while the SA Women’s side finished 10th in Perth.
The Blitzboks lost their final Pool A fixture 19-5 to Los Pumas in their first match on Saturday, but still booked a spot in the cup knockout stage after starting their campaign by outplaying Canada 24-7 and then Spain 21-14 on Friday.
They then suffered a 14-12 defeat to Fiji in a match that could have gone either way. Leading 5-0 at half-time, SA conceded two converted tries after the break. James Murphy was also yellow carded, and with a defender short, the Fijians outworked SA to score what proved to be the decisive points in the match.
Addressing the defeat, skipper Selvyn Davids, who ended the weekend as SA’s top try-scorer (four), says: “That yellow card was unfortunate, but that was not why we lost. We came close, but maybe we kicked too much possession away when we had the ball.”
Ngcobo adds: “Ball in hand we actually did very well, I just feel the ball bounced the other way for us, and one or two discipline errors I think cost us.”
The Blitzboks will have a month’s break, before returning in the Vancouver Sevens scheduled for February 23 to 25.
SEVENS SERIES STANDINGS:
1 Argentina 58
2 Fiji 44
3 Australia 44
4 South Africa 42
5 Ireland 42
6 New Zealand 32