South African Sevens Men to face Fiji in World Cup quarterfinals
The Springbok Sevens team will face Fiji in the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in Moscow after a strong showing in pool play in the Luzhniki Stadium on Saturday.
The South Africans comfortably beat Japan 33-0 and Scotland 41-0 after their 31-0 romp past hosts Russia on Friday to end their pool B play with a 105 points differential, the best in the competition.
They will face the 2005 World Cup champions at 11h00 (SA time) on Sunday, in the first of four quarter-final matches.
The 17 tries scored by the Springbok Sevens team in their three matches are also more than any other team and they were the only outfit not to concede a try.
Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu heaped praise on his team for their performances, but warned that everything starts all over on Sunday.
“The players know tomorrow will be the most important day of the tournament and will leave nothing out there. We have been very impressive on attack and the way we defended resulted in our tryline hardly being under threat. We will be tested on Sunday and then we need to respond like this again,” Treu said.
“It was a great team effort and the way the guys came out there knowing we needed to win the last game to qualify. Not to concede a point takes character.”
Treu added that the team had no problem facing Fiji in the quarter-finals.
“This is a World Cup and if you want to be the best you have to beat the best,” he said. “They’re a great sevens nation and are known as one of the best teams in the world but there is no better time for us to put them away.”
The Scots hardly had a look in and the South Africans scored almost at will.
Sampie Mastriet scored within 18 seconds after kick-off after a 60 meter sprint and two tries by Cecil Afrika before the break laid the foundation for the second half onslaught.
Cheslin Kolbe, who started at scrumhalf/sweeper, scored a hat-trick in a matter of minutes and Mastriet finished off a fine performance with his second on the night.
Try scoring ace Seabelo Senatla did not even needed to move off the bench for this one.
Senatla was much more active against Japan earlier in the day and scored twice in as many minutes when he was called upon in the second half.
The Asian side gave a determined showing in the first half, but two Philip Snyman tries held them at bay and Japan could not stop all the gaps or handle Senatla’s pace in the second half.
•The other quarterfinalists are: (all SA times)
New Zealand v Wales (11h22)
England v Australia (11h44)
Kenya v France (12h06)
•Springbok Sevens captain Kyle Brown was cited for alleged eye-gouging following the Scotland match and will appear before a judiciary tonight. More information will be made available as soon as it is received.
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