Blitzboks face Australia in Malaga 7s Rugby semi-finals

South Africa’s men’s team extended their World Rugby Sevens Series winning streak to 27 matches en route to the semi-finals in Málaga. The Blitzboks have progressed to the Malaga Sevens semi-finals after a gritty win over Canada in Saturday’s Cup quarter-final at the Estadio Ciudad de Málaga in Spain.

South Africa fought tirelessly throughout the match to win 14-0 in the quarter-final, after being held scoreless at half-time.

The Blitzboks have won the last five Series events, and made sure they topped Pool A today by thrashing a young England side 43-0 at the Estadio Ciudad de Málag.

They faced Pool D runners-up Canada in the quarter-finals, and were frustrated for much of the match against resilient opposition, who could themselves have taken the lead only to have a try disallowed for a knock-on.

South Africa got off to shaky start as the Canadians put pressure on the dangerous Springboks Sevens outfit. Canada were denied two tries as the referee called a knock on in both occasions where replays showed a try.

Canada continued their pressure and saw the teams go 0-0 at half-time.

In the second-half, Ryan Oosthuizen finally skipped over the line as they broke the deadlock in the 11th minute with Branco du Preez converting.

With the game slowly slipping away from Canada, Justin Geduld ensured the Blitzboks semi-final spot with another try in the middle of the posts as Dewald Human landed the conversion.

The win took the Springbok Seven’s tally to 27 undefeated matches in the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Earlier on Saturday, the Blitzboks cruised to a 43-0 win over England to top their Pool A standings.

The Blitzboks will face Australia in their Cup semi-final on Sunday at 15:09 SA time after the Aussies defeated the United States of America 26-7.

However, their run was halted by fourth seeds Russia in the quarter-finals with Alena Tiron scoring three times in a 26-5 triumph.

An Australian side bidding for a third consecutive Series gold await them in the semi-finals.

Australia thrashed hosts Spain 20-0 to make sure of top spot in Pool A before Maddison Levi scored twice in a 33-10 quarter-final victory over Canada.

That set a Women’s Series record of 15 consecutive wins.

France set up a clash with the US in the other semi-final tomorrow, with the nations winning Pools C and B respectively.

The French came from behind to beat Ireland 33-5 in the quarter-finals, while the Americans saw off England 22-17.

The Series event is due to conclude tomorrow with the semi-finals and finals, as well as the other placing matches.

Scorers:

South Africa

Tries: Ryan Oosthuizen, Justin Geduld

Conversion: Branco du Preez, Dewald Human

source https://thedailyrugby.com/blitzboks-face-australia-in-malaga-7s-rugby-semi-finals/