South Africa finished in fourth place after being handed a 26-19 defeat by hosts Canada, while New Zealand extended their Series lead by winning the Vancouver Sevens.
After a promising win over the USA in the quarter-finals, it was ultimately a disappointing end to the weekend for South Africa as they were well beaten by New Zealand in the semi-finals before losing the bronze playoff to the home side.
It was Canada’s best ever finish in their home tournament, while the South Africans could not replicate their efforts which saw them claim the Los Angeles title last weekend.
South Africa have also lost ground on Sevens Series leaders New Zealand, who would go on to beat Australia 17-16 and claim the Vancouver title for the first time since 2016. After narrowing the gap between the two sides to just four points, South Africa are now 11 points behind New Zealand, with four tournaments left to play.
Earlier, South Africa came from a 10-point deficit to claim a 26-10 victory over the USA in the quarter-finals.
With that, Neil Powell’s side beat the Americans in a playoff for the second time in as many tournaments.
Once again, South Africa gave a demonstration of their fighting spirit as they found themselves 10-0 down after a sluggish start to the match.
The USA were quick to capitalise, to their credit, going ahead inside the first minute through Carlin Isles, before Danny Barrett took advantage of some slack defending from a cross-kick to dot the ball down.
Crucially, though, both conversions were missed and South Africa regained their composure, cutting the deficit to just three points when Werner Kok went in under the posts. Cecil Afrika then scored just before half-time, with Branco du Preez again the conversion to turn the game on its head and see SA go into the break 14-10 ahead.
A quickfire second-half brace from the excellent Angelo Davids ensured that SA would progress, leaving the USA with far too much to do in the closing stages of the match.