Cape Town — The Springbok Women's Sevens side lost their 13th place play-off against China in the Challenge Cup of the Rugby World Cup Sevens on Sunday.
The SA Women lost their opening game 29-0 to France on Friday night, and on Saturday against Japan, they went down 14-12 in the Challenge quarter-final on Day Two.
Paul Delport's team broke their tournament duck when they beat Colombia 27-0 to book their place in the Challenge 13th place play-off against China, and while it was close, the South Africans didn't do enough to come away with the win.
The South Africans opened the scoring after Eloise Webb put in a classy step to soar to the try line, but from there on it was almost all China.
The team in red were constantly threatening on attack, while their support play was key in how they kept the ball alive and capatalised on their opportunities.
China scored two good tries to be 14-5 up at half-time, and they produced another spirited start in the second half, but a fumble saw South Africa pounce to get their second when Zintle Mpupha sniped through and kicked the ball ahead to score. Nadine Roos added the conversion to make it a two-point game.
China, however, struck again, this time with a converted try by Sun Yue, but they went one player down when Yang Danxu was sent to the sin bin.
The hosts put their numerical advantage to use and scored a try by Marlize de Bruin, but it proved nothing more than consolation as they lost the game 21-19.
Point scorers:
South Africa 19 — Tries: Eloise Webb, Zintle Mpupha, Marlize de Bruin Conversions: Nadine Roos (2)
China 21 — Tries: Chen Keyi, Zhao Ying, Sun Yue Conversions: Keyi (3)
IOL Sport