The South African Blitzboks have qualified for the semi-finals of the Cape Town leg of World Rugby's Sevens series. They secured wins against Fiji by 24-21 and New Zealand by 19-14 in their opening pool matches. The defending champions now prepare for a final pool clash with Great Britain.
On the opening day of the HSBC SVNS Cape Town event, the Blitzboks demonstrated resilience to top their pool. Facing New Zealand, the Dubai title holders, South Africa trailed 7-0 at halftime after an early try by the All Blacks Sevens and a yellow card to captain Impi Visser for a high tackle. Both teams missed chances in the first half.
The second half saw a turnaround as Donovan Don scored within a minute to narrow the gap. Shilton van Wyk then crossed for the lead two minutes later, and Ronald Brown added a crucial try with under a minute remaining, clinching a 19-14 victory despite a late New Zealand response.
Earlier, against Fiji, the Blitzboks overcame a sluggish start. Christi Grobbelaar equalized after two minutes, and van Wyk's hat-trick of tries powered a thrilling 24-21 success.
Zain Davids highlighted the home crowd's boost: “Obviously the crowd gives us energy and the guys said we must set our foundation. We came out and set our foundation but we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But we want it, like all the teams want it. But I have to give the boys credit for coming out and showing up.”
Great Britain, who lost to both Fiji and New Zealand, await the Blitzboks in tonight's pool decider. This performance positions South Africa strongly as defending champions in the series.