South Africa reached the quarter-finals of the Cup at the Los Angeles Sevens after coming through their three pool matches unbeaten. They will now face hosts the USA in the first of the knockout stages.
First they beat Kenya 31-5 and Canada 33-5 before being held to an 11-11 draw with Ireland in Pool B. The game against the USA is scheduled for 8:50pm (SA time) on Sunday.
In the match against Canada, the Springbok Sevens team conceded an early try as they fell behind on the scoreboard. But they were undeterred by that setback.
While they didn’t concede again, it took a while for South Africa to get going but once they did, they ran Canada off their feet. Captain Stedman Gans and Cecil Afrika crossed for two tries late in the first half and Selvyn Davids added the conversions for a 14-5 lead at the break.
There would be no way back for Canada, as South Africa seized control of the game. South Africa went over for three more scores, including a brace from Muller du Plessis, to seal a convincing win.
They were less convincing in the clash with Ireland. The Irish took the game to South Africa and ultimately opened a 19-7 lead over their more accomplished opponents. But with two minutes remaining, Kurt-Lee Arendse pulled one back to make it a seven-point game. Then, in the final play of the match, Gans scored in stoppage time and Davids converted to snatch a dramatic draw.