After losing to NZ by 17-5 in pool play on Wednesday, the Blitzboks hit back in style on Thursday to cause a big upset and ensure they will be playing for a medal in at the Stade de France on Saturday.

Springbok Sevens interim head coach Philip Snyman praised his team after their stunning victory: “They deserve to be in the semi-finals, as they have executed and delivered everything I have asked from them today.

“We did not play poorly on day one, we just could not get our hands on the ball, but today was a different performance, a really inspiring one.

“We needed to win big against Japan and scored seven well-worked tries, but against New Zealand, our defence was going to be crucial and I am so proud of how the guys responded.”

Snyman said he had a good feeling about the ability of the players selected to travel to the world showpiece.

“Once we made it into the quarters, I told them to start believing that it is possible,” said Snyman. “I had a good feeling about the ability of the side, so once we were into the last eight, it was time to remind them of that.

“This was such a great win, built on defence and workrate, while we struck when we needed to. In fact, we left another try or two out there. These guys deserve to contest for a medal, they showed that tonight.”

Selvyn Davids crosses for the first try of the match against NZ.

Team captain Selvyn Davids and Tristan Leyds scored the South Africans' tries in the third and fourth minutes of the first half, with Leyds converting both.

Davids used his pace to go through a gap and crash over, but Leyds' try was especially memorable, as it came from a counter-attack that started from turn-over ball on the Blitzboks' tryline after some sublime defence.

New Zealand hit back two minutes after the buzzer with a try by Moses Leo, with Andrew Knewstubb adding the conversion to make it 14-7 at the break.

The second half saw wave after wave of NZ attack, but the Blitzboks' defence held firm as they tackled like terriers, often forcing mistakes from the Kiwis which handed possession back to South Africa, who sealed the deal with one of their best performances of the season.

The Blitzboks will now face France in the semi-final, with kick-off scheduled for 15h30 on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier on Thursday, South Africa smashed Japan by 49-5 to sneak into the quarter-finals. The Springbok Sevens team had a 35-0 lead at the break in their final Pool A match, scoring five tries in the first half and adding two more after the break.

The Blitzboks, who had to replace the injured Quewin Nortje with Ronald Brown on the second day, knew they had to win by at least 21 points to make into the final eight and did just that. They were ruthless in the opening half and scored almost at will, dominating the restarts, possession and territory.

Japan launched a mini-comeback early in the second half, scoring their only try of the match, but that did not stop the Blitzboks from scoring two more tries.

Rosko Specman, who scored one of the tries, said afterwards that they did what was needed and are still in the hunt for a podium finish.

"Coach Philip (Snyman) asked us one thing in the change room and that was to get the joy back of playing for this team, the same joy we displayed in Monaco," said Specman. "We had some ball to play with and it was joy all over. We are still in the tournament and that is a huge boost of confidence."

Scorers:

South Africa 47 (35), Japan 5 (0) 
SA - Tries: Zain Davids, Impi Visser, Ryan Oosthuizen (2), Rosko Specman, Shilton van Wyk (2). Conversions: Ronald Brown (2), Tristan Leyds (5).
Japan - Try: Kazuma Ueda.

South Africa 14 (14) New Zealand 7 (7)
SA - Tries: Selvyn Davids, Tristan Leyds. Conversions: Leyds (2).
NZ - Try: Moses Leo. Conversion: Andrew Knewstubb. 

Quarter-finals
21h00: South Africa v New Zealand
21h30: Argentina v France
22h00: Fiji v Ireland
22h30: Australia v United States