The South African Sevens team is currently in the top spot in their pool, but their final pool position and playoff ranking will depend on their result against Australia on Saturday. The Australians also won both their matches against the same opponents.

The Blitzboks had a sluggish start against Great Britain, playing in their own half for most of the first half. Both sides scored an unconverted try to go into the sheds 5-5 at halftime. The Blitzboks were much improved in the second half, with Sebastiaan Jobb scoring and Dewald Human converting. 

With seconds left to play, the British side scored under the posts and converted to equalise, forcing sudden death extra time. From the restart, a good chase and defence by Jayden Nell and Quewin Nortje forced a penalty, with the Blitzboks opting for a scrum. From that, Tristan Leyds scored the match-winner.

The match against Kenya started much better, with Shilton van Wyk scoring under the sticks and Leyds converting. With 7-0 at halftime, Kenya came hard at the South African side in the second half, but lost a player to the sin bin when he slapped a pass down.

The Blitzboks opted for a scrum from the resulting penalty and moved the ball to Human, who presented the perfect cross-kick to Jobb, who finished in the corner. Duarttee converted for a 14-0 lead.

Kenya again came close, but a good intervention by Nell thwarted that try-scoring opportunity. The Blitzboks will face Australia on Saturday at 13:23 (SA time).

Scorers:

South Africa 17 (5), Great Britain 12 (5)
SA – Tries: Shilton van Wyk, Sebastiaan Jobb, Tristan Leyds. Conversion: Dewald Human.
GB – Tries: Charlton Kerr, Ben Salmon. Conversion: Tom Burton.

South Africa 14 (7), Kenya 0 (0)
SA – Tries: Shilton van Wyk, Sebastiaan Jobb. Conversions: Tristan Leyds, Ricardo Duarttee.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg