A 20-14 defeat to Fiji in their final pool match dropped the Blitzboks into second in their group, but two earlier victories over Spain (33-14) and Argentina (19-12) confirmed a top four spot on Sunday. Fiji and New Zealand will contest the other semi-final.
The second half against Fiji was not one the Blitzboks will remember fondly. After racing out of the blocks, scoring two quick fire tries by Zain Davids and Sebastiaan Jobb and firmly in control at 14-0, Fiji fought back.
A good break by Ricardo Duarttee created space for Davids to score after four minutes. The Fijians were then reduced to six players after a yellow card and good tactical play exposed them on the wing, where Jobb ran hard to finish under the sticks.
Davids then turned villain with less than a minute to go when he was yellow carded and suddenly it all came crashing down. Fiji scored just before the break and again just after the restart as the six-man South African defence were punished.
Suddenly Fiji had all the momentum and a third try handed them a 15-14 lead. Another yellow card, this time to Duarttee for a high tackle, again gave Fiji an easy pass to the try line and they scored a fourth try to clinch the top spot in Pool A.
Luan Giliomee goes over for his first Blitzbok try.
The 19-12 win over Argentina secured the semi-final spot, but the victory was only secured in the final play of the match. It was a tight contest from the start, with both teams strong on defence.
The Blitzboks scored first after a yellow card to Argentina when a player slapped down the ball in an attempted intercept. From the resulting penalty, South Africa opted for a scrum and attacked down the blind side. A good recycle to the open side exploited the missing defender and Christie Grobbelaar opened the scoring.
Los Pumas came back to score their opener a minute before the break, with their attack outwitting the defence, but the response from South Africa was immediate.
Duarttee opened up the Argentine defence with a brilliant run and when stopped, found Davids, who was rewarded for his supporting line on the inside with his 50th HSBC SVNS try. The conversion was good and the Blitzboks led by 14-7 at the break.
A timely turnover in the second half extended the SA lead when Donavan Don sprinted away from 70m out to score and at 19-7, South Africa looked set for another win. They almost sealed the deal a minute from time, but lost the ball on the Pumas line, who then counter-attacked and scored at the other end. The conversion went wide and hard as they tried in the final play, Argentina could not get the equalling score.
Donavan Don on the attack against Fiji.
Against Spain in the opening match, the Blitzboks started brilliantly, then went to sleep before the break and conceded the lead, before romping away in the second half.
From their first attacking opportunity, Shilton van Wyk sliced through to score a converted try. The Blitzboks attacked from a scrum and Van Wyk ran onto a delayed Tristan Leyds pass to score.
The lead became 12 soon after, this time when David Brits dotted down. Spain were stretched on defence and when Grobbelaar fired a looping pass to Brits, he finished in style.
The minute before and after the break was not the finest two minutes for South Africa as Spain blitzed them with two tries from Juan Ramos. The second of those, just after the restart, took Spain into a 14-12 lead.
They looked set to extend that with a strong attack, but a very timely intercept by Ryan Oosthuizen secured possession for his team and a couple of passes later, Davids crashed over for a 19-14 lead.
A great burst by Zander Reynders confirmed the win as the forward stepped off his left foot to run in under the sticks. There was still time though for Luan Giliomee to score his first try in Blitzboks colours, sniping down the blindside to create a wonderful memory.
Scorers:
South Africa 33 (12), Spain 14 (7)
SA – Tries: Shilton van Wyk, David Brits, Zain Davids, Zander Reynders, Luan Giliomee. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (2), Donavan Don (2).
Spain – Tries: Juan Ramos (2). Conversions: Jeremy Trevithick (2).
South Africa 19 (14), Argentina 12 (7)
SA – Tries: Christie Grobbelaar, Zain Davids, Donavan Don. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee, Tristan Leyds.
Argentina – Tries: Marcos Moneta, Santino Zangara. Conversion: Pedro De Haro.
South Africa 14 (14), Fiji 20 (5)
SA – Tries: Zain Davids, Sebastiaan Jobb. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (2).
Fiji – Tries: Nacani Boginisoko, Viwa Naduvalo (2), Iowane Teba.
