The Springbok Sevens side were dealt a setback as they went down 24-14 to Australia in their final pool match of the HSBC World Championship in Valladolid in Spain on Saturday. The result means that the Blitzboks will now have to face the winner of pool C, which will be decided later as Fiji and Spain clash for top honours there. The Australians, who were helped by former Wallaby coach Joe Schmidt ahead of the tournament, had a stellar second half to get them home.
Quewin Nortje had opened the scoring and put the Blitzboks ahead, only to see tries by Harry Wilson and Henry Hutchinson give Australia a 10-7 lead at the break. Gino Cupido then got the Blitzboks into the lead early in the second half, but a strong finish by Australia, which included tries for Ben Dowling and Josh Turner gave them the honours. The Blitzboks quarterfinal will be played at 17h11 with the semifinals and finals scheduled for Sunday. The Springbok Sevens side has won five
tournaments in a row, adding the first World Championship tournament in Hong Kong to the four that took them to the HSBC World SVNS Series title earlier. In the Women’s section, Fiji pipped the Springbok Womens’ side 17-14 to leave South Africa without a win and facing Argentina in the ninth place semifinal at 18h10
Blitzboks, Springbok Sevens, Australia, Valladolid, HSBC World Championship, pool C, Fiji, Spain, quarterfinal 17h11, Springbok Women, Argentina, ninth place semifinal 18h10