The Blitzboks side, fielding five debutants at this iconic event, won 26-7 against New Zealand to claim bronze, with Fiji claiming their fourth title by beating Kenya. This win closed the gap between the Blitzboks and Fiji in the World Series to three points, but Springbok Sevens coach, Neil Powell, will be delighted with the effort delivered by the squad taken to the tournament by stand-in coach, Marius Schoeman.

Powell is in Gold Coast already with ten senior players, preparing for the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens next weekend.

"This was such a proud performance by this young group of players. The guys showed so much courage and all of South Africa can be so proud of their effort," Schoeman said afterwards.

"The real credit must go to the sevens system back home though. The staff of our senior squad, the SA Rugby Sevens Academy and even our women's group, all work together. So credit should go to the players here and the system in general, where a lot of backroom staff also contributed immensely." The stand-in coach applauded the third place effort.

"We came so close in our semi-final against Fiji and then the guys responded in such brilliant fashion to bounce back against New Zealand and claim third." The Blitzboks captain in Hong Kong, Dewald Human, described his team's effort as courageous.

"The guys showed what they are capable of out there today. We managed five wins over teams that play in the World Series and our young group showed they belong on that stage as well. It is nice to do it in Hong Kong, it being such an iconic event."

One of the debutants, Rhyno Smith, said he felt honoured to be part of the set-up, since joining the Academy in January.

“You are not only becoming a better player, but a better person. It was such an honour to be part of our effort this week,” he said.

Earlier, the Blitzboks suffered a heart-breaking 26-24 defeat to Fiji in the semi-final of the competition.

The Blitzboks, with five new caps in the squad and without the services of injured forward, Ryan Oosthuizen, tore into Fiji to lead 19-5 at halftime.

Selvyn Davids was in fine form, scoring three tries against the defending Hong Kong champions. Davids was named Player of the Tournament afterwards and made the customary Dream Team.

Fiji came back strongly in the second half though and took a 26-19 lead, but a final push from South Africa then saw a score through Muller du Plessis. The final conversion went wide and the South Sea side could celebrate.

In their opening match of the day, the Springbok Sevens team moved into the final four by beating Spain 38-5.

Muller du Plessis scored a hat-trick of tries against the Spanish, with tries in the 2nd, 7th and 9th minutes of the match.

Selvyn Davids and Dewald Human dotted down as well. South Africa scored early but then conceded a yellow card and Spain capitalised on that.

After that though, there was only one team keeping the scoresheet busy.

Scorers:

South Africa v New Zealand - tries: Stedman Gans (2), Dewald Human, Zain Davids, Muller du Plessis. Conversions: Selvyn Davids (2)
South Africa v Fiji - tries: Selvyn Davids (3), Muller du Plessis. Conversions: Selvyn Davids (2)
South Africa v Spain - tries: Muller du Plessis (3), Selvyn Davids, Dewald Human, Penalty Try. Conversions: Human, Davids, Rhyno Smith

The World Series standings after seven of the ten tournaments are:

1. South Africa 126
2. Fiji 123
3. New Zealand 107
4. Argentina 90
5. Australia 89

SA Rugby