Springbok Sevens against Fiji in Dubai quarter-finals
The Springbok Sevens will have to overcome Fiji tomorrow morning if they want to advance to the semi-finals of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens. South Africa lost 19-14 in their last Pool C match against Australia to finish second in their pool.
The Dubai tournament is the first event on the calendar of the eight-tournament HSBC Sevens World Series. Next week the teams will battle it out in George for the Emirates Airline SA Sevens title.
The defeat against the young Australians ended a frustrating day for Kyle Brown’s team, who beat Russia 19-10 in their opening fixture and played to a 19-19 draw against Scotland.
South Africa played their best match of the day against Australia, but they were penalised at crucial moments for offside. Australia stormed back with three tries to lead 19-7 at one stage after Cecil Afrika gave the Springbok Sevens a 7-0 lead with a converted try.
Bernard Foley and John Grant (2) then hit back with tries for the opposition, before Afrika scored his second try of the match and his fourth of the day to put South Africa within reach at 19-14. However, another penalty after the restart allowed the Aussies to kick the ball into touch to end the match.
Afrika, Bernado Botha and Kyle Brown scored the SA tries against Russia in a match where coach, Paul Treu, gave five of the six new players a first run-out in the Series.
Scotland fought back from 7-19 down to draw 19-19 in the Springbok Sevens’ second game, with only a missed conversion saving SA from a defeat.
Brown scored two early tries as South Africa raced to a 12-0 lead, but the Scots hit back late in the first half with a converted try of their own. Afrika got the second half off to a good start his team’s third try, but Scotland then came with a big rally to almost seal the match at the end.
The Cup quarter-final draw for Saturday is:
Samoa vs. USA; Fiji vs. South Africa; Australia vs. England; New Zealand vs. Wales
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