The Blitzboks came up against a slippery yellow banana skin in the quarter-finals of the HSBC World Sevens in Singapore on Sunday.
That banana skin manifested itself in the form of a fired up Australian side as the Blitzboks relinquished a 17-7 lead to lose 19-17.
Prolific tryscorer Siviwe Soyizwapi and Chris Dry scored tries to give South Africa a 10-7 lead at half-time, and they made it 17-7 when Philip Snyman dotted down with three minutes to go, reports SA Rugby magazine.
But Australia captain Tom Lucas scored with two minutes remaining, with Dylan Sage then getting yellow-carded.
The Aussies made their numerical advantage count as Lachie Anderson scored a try and John Porch kicked the match-winning conversion.
In the other Cup quarter-finals, the USA shocked Fiji 24-19, Canada upset New Zealand 26-14 and England edged Kenya 13-12.
Picture of Blitzboks skipper Snyman and tryscorer against Australia, courtesy of Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images