Blitzboks will take on Argentina in the final of this year’s Cape Town leg of the HSBC Sevens tournament after winning a nail-biting semi-final against France earlier today (7 December).
The Springboks Sevens, who came into the Cape Town leg as the defending champions after last year’s victory, won their semi-final encounter 22-17 against a determined French outfit.
They will now lock horns in the Cup final with Argentina, who defeated Fiji 29-21 in another semi-final.
Phillip Snayman’s charges, who booked their semi-final slot yesterday after flawless group stage wins against Fiji (24-21), New Zealand (19-14) and Great Britain (41-7), came into their encounter against France with guns blazing.
Shilton van Wyk carried on where he left off on Saturday and scored the first of his two tries in the first minute.
Tristan Leyds showed some individual brilliance a few minutes later for the second try after France were penalised for going off their feet at a ruck. The Blitzbok playmaker took a quick tap and cantered over for the try to push South Africa into a 10-0 lead.
But the French were not prepared to give up without a fight, scoring a try of their own.
As the clock ticked down to end the first half, France had an attacking lineout and, after spreading the ball wide with the odd slick pass, Jordan Sepho scored in the left corner. From the restart, the ball bounced into the hands of Van Wyk, who had no one in front of him and raced away for a 60-metre try, with Ricardo Duarttee’s conversion making it 17-5.
At the start of the second half, France scored their second try to trail by five points.
Josselin Bouhier scored a converted try for France from the restart after working their way upfield from deep in their own half.
France levelled the scores from the restart as Bouhier scored a similar try to Van Wyk’s second, with the ball bouncing right for the speedster, who raced away for the points.
But the last say belonged to the Blitzboks, who kept piling on the pressure, with Ryan Oosthuizen the man to do the damage from a turnover in the French 22.
France had one last opportunity with a free kick from the middle of the field after the Blitzboks took too long with the restart, but the South Africans’ defence held firm and they booked their spot in the final.
