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The emergence of softly-spoken Peter Lakai within the All Blacks environment
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Blitzboks escape Bordeaux elimination to keep World Championship dream alive
at Matmut Atlantique, Bordeaux
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South Africa are on the cusp of winning the HSBC SVNS World Championship after sneaking into the quarter-finals in Bordeaux, despite finishing third in Pool A. The Blitzboks were on the brink of elimination after losing to Fiji but are still alive courtesy of another fierce rival.
Scotland’s all-time leading try-scorer Darcy Graham inspired Great Britain to a shock win over the Blitzboks on day one, before the World Championship leaders bounced back with a crucial 26-5 win over Kenya.
But with GB securing a win over the Shujaa early on the second day, the Blitzboks needed to beat Fiji to guarantee their spot in the quarters. If South Africa missed the Cup knockouts, they would have been eliminated from the World Championship title race as well.
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Fiji prevailed 15-12 in a thriller, with South Africa players left watching from the tunnel at Stade Atlantique, as New Zealand faced Argentina. The Blitzboks needed an All Blacks Sevens win to progress, but Los Pumas Sevens had it all to play for as well.
Argentina gave it their all but went down swinging 21-24, which has seen them miss out on the quarters and ruled them out of World Championship contention. South Africa will live to fight another day at SVNS Bordeaux, with the circuit’s top prize now within reach.
“In South Africa rugby is like a religion,” South Africa’s Ricardo Duarttee told RugbyPass in Bordeaux.
“Five out of seven tournaments, I think we can really be glad and be proud of what we did in this green and gold jersey.
“We’re not perfect but I think we gave it our best shot and at times we were the best, and at times there were teams that were just better than us on the day. But I think we are the best team in this division at the moment and we just have to start not just pitching up one day… every day being the best system in the world.”
South Africa will get a chance to claim some revenge when they take on Fiji for the second time on day two, with the two sides set to meet in the quarter-finals. Great Britain and the USA are still alive in the top eight race, set to face New Zealand and Spain respectively.
Home side France booked their spot in the Cup knockouts with a hard-fought 14-7 victory against Germany, who will be one of the bottom four sides on the overall ladder. Enahemo Artaud scored a double, which gave the Bordeaux crowd plenty to cheer about.
“For some of the boys it’s our first time [playing a SVNS event] in France so we want to embrace it, but at the same time not be overcome by the added pressure,” France’s Luca Mignot told RugbyPass.
“We just use it to fuel our energy and we need to focus on the principles, stay all together and play our game.”
Men’s Cup quarter-finals at SVNS Bordeaux
Australia vs France at 3:30 pm
Fiji vs South Africa at 3:52 pm
New Zealand vs Great Britain at 4:14 pm
USA vs Spain at 4:36 pm
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