Blitzboks vs Ireland

South Africa lost out as Ireland upset the Blitzboks 24-14 to comfortably seal their place in the semifinals of the Rugby World Cup Sevens this weekend.

They just won the Challenger Series and qualified for the World Series, so they’re riding on a lot of confidence. Japan was always going to be a tough match for the Bok Sevens women. Our execution was one of the biggest points we wanted to work on, we wanted to round off [our play] with some tries,” said Roos after Imbokodo’s victory over Colombia. In the past, it was okay to lose. “If we stick to our processes, the result will follow. This followed their 27-0 loss to France on Friday. Roos’ jet shoes and silky feet were too quick to handle for the scrambling Colombians. The home side then spilled another ball in their 22, this time Pretorius was the guilty party. Giving a performance out there that we as a team stand for. From the resulting ruck, Brown corrected his earlier error by drawing and passing early to give Muller du Plessis an easy run-in. But now they play Argentina on the final day with, at best, a fifth place finish. I still feel we’re very individualistic and I’d like us to come together a bit more.

The fairytale is over at the Sevens World Cup where the Blitzboks crashed out of the quarter-finals, beaten 24-14 by Ireland in Saturday's main event at ...

They lost their first game of the day, going down 14-12 to Japan, but they bounced back in style by thrashing Colombia 27-0 with As the match progressed, the Blitzboks were becoming their own worst enemies, and when a basic handling error allowed Jordan Conroy in for Ireland's third, the scoreboard read 19-7 to the visitors. The Blitzboks were then punished for their own issues at the lineout, losing two in a row, allowing Harry McNulty to cross the whitewash for Ireland's second. An error from an Ireland lineout, however, allowed the Blitzboks to pounce on the loose ball and it was Muller du Plessis who scored on the stroke of half-time. Perhaps it was the magnitude of the occasion, but the Blitzboks were getting a lot of the basics wrong, and they were not clinical enough when presented with their first two try-scoring opportunities. The skill of this South African side has never been in question, but this was not their day, especially after conceding the first try of the game to go 7-0 down.

Hosts suffer shock 24-14 loss in a dramatic finale to Saturday's action at Cape Town Stadium, while New Zealand, Australia and Fiji make it through.