The Blitzboks beat Australia 22-5 in the quarter-finals to keep their medal hopes alive.

The two teams met earlier on day two in the last round of the pool matches and it was the men from down-under who won that game 12-5.

The Blitzboks captain, Kyle Brown, says that they were mentally tuned in during their last pool game.

“We must make sure that we prepare better mentally and come back fresh in the morning.

“The Aussies are a hard running team and tested our defences.

“In the first match, they kept the ball away from us for long periods, so we had to change that in the second match.”

The team's coach, Neil Powell, in his turn said he was delighted with the way his side performed in the play-offs.

“I am happy in the way we came back and played. In a knock-out match, anything is possible and Australia is a quality outfit, but we played well.

“Our forwards got a few crucial turn-overs and we have the backs that can exploit that.”

“We need a solid defensive line and a solid defensive effort tomorrow.

“Great Britain is one of the form teams in the competition and we need to go back and plan for another war tomorrow.”

In the other quarter-final matches last night, Fiji gave New Zealand their marching orders with a 12-7 victory.

Japan continued their impressive run with a 12-7 win over France and Great Britain edged the feisty Argentines 5-0.

This evening at 19:30 Fiji take on Japan in the first semi-final and at 20:00 South Africa tackle Great Britain.

Morgan Piek/OFM News