After their shocking loss to Spain on day one, the Springbok Sevens team bounced back in style in their final pool game early on Saturday, smashing Argentina 38-0 to top the pool and book their place in the Hong Kong Sevens quarterfinal.
The shock of losing 31-12 to Spain - possibly the Blitzboks worst performance all season in a Sevens tournament - must have stirred something up behind the scenes and coach Philip Snyman would have been hard on his charges as they faced missing out on the quarterfinals unless they produced something exceptional at the start of day two.
Argentina had won both their games on day one by a large margin and looked to have already qualified for the quarterfinals. But Spain’s 19-0 win over Uruguay meant they needed a good result as well to make sure they weren’t pushed into third place in the pool.
While two of the best third place finishers still qualify for the quarterfinals, it would put a team at a massive disadvantage.
But what the Blitzboks produced early in the morning SA time was a performance that was on par with the best they have played this entire season. Argentina are normally a bit of a bogey side for them, but from the start this was always going to be a different performance from the Blitzboks.
Ryan Oosthuizen was denied in the corner in the opening minute, but the veteran then stole the lineout ball and it was sent wide for Sebastian Jobb to use his pace and open the scoring in the other corner.
Oosthuizen then produced a bit of magic two minutes later when he intercepted a loose pass and ran in under the sticks to double the Blitzboks lead.
Things fell apart for Argentina when Martiano Arrieta lifted Zane Davids through the horizontal with the Blitzboks forward landing on his neck, prompting the officials to give a red card and permanently reduce Los Pumas to six.
Playmaker Selvyn Davids then produced a show and go from the ensuing penalty to run in untouched before winning a turnover penalty that allowed Tristan Leyds to make it four tries by halftime.
A scorcher by Shilton van Wyk early in the second half and a chargedown try by Leyds made it 38-0 and catapulted the Blitzboks to the top of the pool standings.
They wait now to see who they will play in the quarterfinals, but at this point it looks to be the winner between USA and Kenya, still to be played. The quarterfinal will kick off at 12.28pm (CAT, GMT+2).
The Springbok Sevens Women finally tasted some success with their 19-5 win over Great Britain on day two to complete their fixtures.
A brace from Maria Tshiremba and a try from Lerato Makua was enough to give them victory after two losses on day one.
They will face Great Britain again in the ninth place semifinal at 10.02.