Cape Town — The Springboks Sevens side’s recent woes continued as they were knocked out of Cup contention at the Vancouver leg of the World Sevens Series on Sunday.
The South Africans — who had lost three key players during the Pool stages and had to go into the playoffs with a limited bench — lost their Cup quarter-final to Samoa 28-17.
The Pacific Islanders led 21-0 at half time, and Zain Davids scored the first try in the second half for Neil Powell’s group, but Samoa replied through Malu Falaniko.
Selvyn Davids scored another one for the reigning Series champions and Ronald Brown also got on the scoresheet, but Samoa had done enough to book a semi-final spot.
A statement win from @manusamoa7s 🇼🇸
They'll face Fiji in the Cup semi-final 🏆#Canada7s | #HSBC7s pic.twitter.com/qR2YlkrfBP
The Blitzboks were on a six-tournament winning streak prior to last weekend’s Singapore event, where they lost the fifth-place play-off against Argentina to finish sixth.
In their final Pool fixture at the previous tournament, they came short against the USA, ending their 36-match run and missing out on a 12th consecutive semi-final after suffering a quarter-final defeat to the returning Fiji, who went on to clinch the Singapore title.
While the Springbok Sevens team won all three their pool matches in Vancouver, it wasn’t easy as they were tested against Spain and Canada. Some of last week’s shortcomings again crept in, but they looked sharper against Australia in their final pool game.
South Africa will now play France in the fifth-place at 23:00 (SA time) on Sunday.
IOL Sport