Blitzboks rally to deny Spain a home SVNS Valladolid semi-final spot

South Africa have overcome the might of a passionate away crowd and a confident Spanish side to book their place in the HSBC SVNS Valladolid semi-finals. The Blitzboks were trailing by two tries in the second half but fought their way back for a 14-12 win.

Josep Serres and Manu Moreno had the Spanish crowd buzzing at Estadio Jose Zorilla with two quick tries in the first half. The match just didn’t go to plan during the first half for the Boks, with Tristan Leyds and Selvyn Davids both sending kicks into touch on the full.

But the Blitzboks, as they have done time and time again this season, managed to find a way before the full-time whistle. Impi Visser gave them a real chance of a comeback with a 10th-minute try, and Jayden Nell was next to strike soon after.

The Blitzboks had taken charge of the match’s momentum and the lead, with Ricardo Duarttee’s two successful conversions proving key. South Africa remains in the race for yet another title, set to take on Argentina in a blockbuster semi-final on Sunday.

“It’s close to Cape Town,” Leyds told RugbyPass in Valladolid when asked about the crowd.

“We played them in a semi in Cape Town two years ago; they were also in the lead, I think 12-nil or 19-nil or something like that, and we came from behind but it was different because we had our crowd then.

“When they were up 12-nil, the crowd just keeps on going, keeps on going and things didn’t go our way. We only scored our first points in the second half against the run of play but even then, when we scored, they almost got the nail in the coffin but a try-saver there from Sebastiaan Jobb.

“The crowd was just going. You’re playing against, I don’t know how many people there are in the stadium, and they are just amped.

“The pressure is always on the home crowd and we managed to bag the [win].”

The Blitzboks stormed home in the regular season to claim the SVNS 1 crown and carried that form into the new-look World Championship. South Africa recovered from a pool stage defeat to Spain to claim the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens title for the first time.

Argentina, Spain and New Zealand rounded out the top four at the fan favourite event, but South Africa continued to stand out as the team to beat. Ahead of the two European stops in the World Championship Series, the Blitzboks occupied top spot on the standings.

“We want to build and obviously also finish on top but we take it game by game,” Leyds said.

“It hasn’t been our best weekend; we’ve had some good tournaments in the season and hopefully we can pull it together and we can put ourselves in a good position or Bordeaux.”

But the World Championship standings could take a drastic change on day three in northwestern Spain, with Argentina a chance of overtaking South Africa. The top two sides on the ladder will meet in the semi-finals at 11:06 am local time.

Argentina secured their place in the final four with a thrilling 21-19 win over France. It was a game of two halves, with Los Pumas Sevens taking a commanding 21-point advantage into the break before an almighty comeback during the second half.

On the other side of the draw, Australia progressed beyond the quarter-finals, prevailing 21-0 over Kenya. The men in gold will face Fiji for a spot in the big dance, after they ran away with a relentless 40-0 triumph over the All Blacks Sevens.

“New Zealand have always set the standard,” Fiji coach Osea Kolinisau said post-game on the broadcast, which you can watch on RugbyPass TV HERE.

“Fiji and New Zealand, you don’t have to fire Fiji boys up when you play New Zealand because of the rivalry, they just turn up.

“We know New Zealand have been playing well in the Championship… this week, we wanted to better than Hong Kong [China].”

SVNS Valladolid

Men’s quarter-final results

New Zealand 0-40 Fiji

Australia 21-0 Kenya

Spain 12-14 South Africa

Argentina 21-19 France

Semi-finals

Fiji vs Australia at 10:44 am (local time) on Sunday

South Africa vs Argentina at 11:06 am (local time) on Sunday