The Springbok Sevens team just snuck into the quarterfinals thanks to a late try in their defeat at the hands of Fiji, and now will face the South Sea magicians again in the quarterfinals.
It was a near disaster for the Blitzboks as they looked to be heading for their second defeat in the Bordeaux Sevens tournament after being shocked by Great Britain on day one, but a late try by Sebastian Jobb gave them a vital bonus point to see them through to the quarterfinals as one of the lucky losers.
Fiji won the pool and now will face the second-best, third-placed side in the three pools - namely South Africa, in a quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon at 15h52, keeping the Blitzboks' hopes of claiming the World Championship alive.
But it was a dramatic game where some of the refereeing decisions by Ben O’Connor could easily be disputed, and how the Blitzboks hung on where other teams would have folded a lot easier.
That late try also meant that Argentina, who finished third in their pool and were only four points behind the Blitzboks in the overall standings, were excluded from the quarterfinals and can now only get a maximum of four log points from the tournament, meaning they cannot catch the Blitzboks anymore.
AUSSIES TO CONTEND WITH
Australia topped their pool and are now the Blitzboks' nearest challengers, although they are eight points behind the Blitzboks in the standings. If the Blitzboks finish no lower than fifth, they should still be able to claim the title.
That’s why Van Wyk’s try, which came with less than a minute to go in the game and turned a 15-5 scoreline into a 15-12 scoreline, was so important. It was literally the lifeline that kept the Blitzboks in the hunt for the World Championship.
And the sixth-spot scenario is if the Australians, who are the nearest challengers and won in Valladolid last weekend, win the tournament. Alternatively, if the Australians lose to their quarterfinal opponents France, or South Africa beat Fiji, the title goes to the Blitzboks.
It was a crazy game where the Blitzboks were on attack until a kick through and resultant fall sent Shakes Soyizwapi to the bin. Replays showed that it looked more like a dive than a trip, one that could easily see Viwa Naduvalo carded himself, but the referee never looked at a replay.
It left the one-man advantage to be exploited by Fiji and saw Apete Narogo score shortly afterwards to put the side into the lead. The Blitzboks hit back through a beautiful spell of play that started with Ricky Duarttee beating several players, throwing a massive 40-metre crossfield pass to Tristan Lleyds, who double-stepped three more Fijians before offloading the ball backwards to fall perfectly into Shilton van Wyk’s hands to score.
Fiji scored twice after the break to look as if they were going to run away with the game, through George Bose and Naduvalo, before the Blitzboks finally got over the line through Jobb.
They were on the attack at the end before the ball was snarled up in a ruck, leaving them just short of claiming a late win, but it was enough to set up the rematch between the two sides.