The two sides were locked at 12-all at halftime in their Cup Quarter Final, before a costly Australian error from the second-half restart opened the floodgates for South Africa to go on and record a 29-17 victory.

Earlier in the day, the men in gold had booked their Quarter Finals berth with a convincing 24-7 win over Samoa to secure second spot in Pool C behind the hosts, USA.

The Aussies will now face Kenya in a 5th place semi final at 7.50am AEDT tomorrow (Monday 5 March).

Australia 24 defeated Samoa 7

Tries: Jesse Parahi, John Porch, Lachie Anderson, James Stannard Cons: James Stannard 2

With a strong breeze behind them, the Aussies took more than six minutes to break the Samoan defence in their must-win final Pool C match up.

Both sides were off with their timing early but worked hard in defence, until a bullocking run by Jesse Parahi broke the deadlock with less than a minute to play in the half.

That lead was extended a minute into the second period, after the Aussies were awarded a penalty deep on attack and capitalised through a spectacular diving try to John Porch in the left corner.

A far more cohesive Aussie outfit clicked in to gear, with a pretty double-switch move providing their next try to Lachie Anderson in the same corner.

The Samoans answered with a stunning try of their own through Laaloi Leilua, but the Australians responded immediately to ice the game when Tom Lucas sent James Stannard over to book a place in the Cup Quarter Finals.

Quarter

Final Australia 17 lost to South Africa 29

Tries: John Porch 2, Jeral Skelton

Cons: James Stannard

The fast-starting Aussies seized the early initiative after South Africa spilled the opening kick off into touch. Going immediately on the attack, John Porch caught the Blitzboks napping, lunging over the line after Australia was awarded a penalty just metres short.

The South Africans answered with some brilliant ball movement of their own, finished by Philip Snyman to knot it up at 7 a piece after three minutes.

Australia quickly wrested back the momentum, with Porch kicking ahead for himself in open space to score his second on the right flank.

Another brilliant piece of attacking play down the opposite end of the field allowed Ryan Oosthuizen to nab the equaliser for South Africa, making it 12-all at the break.

The second half started in reverse of the first, when Australia knocked on from the opening kick off to pave the way for some Cecil Afrika magic. The Blitzboks try-scoring freak stamped his class on the contest with a solo try and another slicing run which opened up the left side of the field for Ruhan Nel to score moments later.

Trailing 12-24 when Selvyn Davids burst through from a set play off a lineout win to score another, there was no coming back for the Aussies. A late try to rookie Jeral Skelton, the first of his HSBC Sevens World Series career, squeezed the final margin to 12 points as the South Africans advanced to the Cup Semi Finals.

Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens Head Coach, Andy Friend on the Quarter Final defeat:

“There was a lot of that game we were happy with, going into the break at twelve-all, but you drop the opening kick off in the second half and you’re right on the back foot.

“I thought there were some tough calls against us at crucial moments, but we don’t want make excuses. Our execution, our speed of support, and accuracy on the ground wasn’t good enough. We definitely had our chances. “We’ve got to get through Kenya tomorrow to give ourselves a chance to grab fifth, which is the best we can do now.”

Meanwhile, concerns over the playing surface on an outside field caused officials to call an early stop to the third game of a five-match series between the Qantas Australian Women’s Sevens team and the USA.

The two nations will play two further matches on Monday (AEDT), having shared the spoils in their first two encounters yesterday.