Blitzboks finish sixth in Grand Final tournament in Spain

The Blitzboks finished the HSBC Sevens Madrid Grand Final tournament in sixth position after they beat Australia in their first game on Sunday, but then came unstuck against Ireland.

After losing their three pool matches against Ireland, New Zealand and Fiji the Blitzboks delivered their best performance of the weekend in the fifth-place semifinal against Australia on Sunday morning, winning 24-21.

However, they could not replicate that in the fifth-place playoff against the Irish, who won a close contest 12-7.

The Blitzboks showed great resilience against Australia to clinch their only victory of the weekend.

The Aussies opened the scoring with a try by Matthew Gonzalez, but two tries in quick succession by Rosko Specman, after Tristan Leyds hit a gap, and an intercept five-pointer from the restart by Ryan Oosthuizen, gave the Blitzboks a 12-7 lead at the break.

Ben Dowling's try put Australia back in the lead, but then Quewin Nortje underlined his promise with a superb solo try as he hacked the ball ahead and outpaced the defence to score under the sticks.

Siviwe Soyizwapi scored the Blitzboks' fourth try to make it 24-14 with time running out, and though the Aussies clawed one back at the death, by James Turner, it was too little, too late.

Ireland controlled possession and set up camp in the Blitzboks' half in the first half of their playoff match, and took a 12-0 lead into the break.

Zac Ward scored Ireland's first try after he broke through a Blitzbok tackle and Harry McNulty's try then made it 12-0.

South Africa made a step up after the break and with their first scoring opportunity two minutes in Siviwe Soyizwapi lost the ball over the try line.

Impi Visser finally gave the Blitzboks some hope with a try that started in their own 22 with less than two minutes to go, but that was it for the South Africans as Ireland won a late penalty and played out time to seal the win.

Scorers

South Africa 24 (12) — Tries: Rosko Specman, Ryan Oosthuizen, Quewin Nortje, Siviwe Soyizwapi. Conversions: Tristan Leyds (2).

Australia 21 (7) — Tries: Matthew Gonzalez, Ben Dowling, James Turner. Conversions: Dietrich Roache (3).

South Africa 7 (0) — Try:Impi Visser. Conversion: Selvyn Davids.

Ireland 12 (12) — Tries: Zac Ward, Harry McNulty. Conversion: Hugo Lennox.

SA Rugby