The Team South Africa Sevens side produced a near flawless display to see off Japan and qualify for the quarter-finals of the Rugby Sevens at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The Blitzboks needed to win by more than 21 points to sneak into the quarters via the back door as the best of the third-placed pool teams. They ended up running in six tries to beat the hapless Japanese 49-5 to progress to the knockouts.
The Blitzboks will now face New Zealand in the quarter-finals, their second meeting at the Olympics after facing each other in a Pool A match. New Zealand beat South Africa 17-5, and then narrowly beat Ireland 14-12 on Thursday to finish top of Pool A.
After struggling to get their hands on the ball on day one, the Blitzboks, knowing the permutations, came out of the blocks firing and scored an early try via Zain Davids.
The South Africans dominated the kickoffs and scored at will, despite the Japanese trying to put pressure on the ball carriers with a rush defence.
Impi Visser, Shilton van Wyk, and Ryan Oosthuizen (2) also crossed the line in the first half, while Tristan Leyds was flawless with the conversions to give the South Africans a 35-0 lead at the break.
Japan got a score against the run of play when Kazuma Ueda crossed the line, but the Blitzboks weren’t quite finished as Rosco Specman and Van Wyk scored another couple of tries, which Ronnie Brown converted.
Point-scorers:
South Africa - Tries: Zain Davids, Impi Visser, Shilton van Wyk (2), Ryan Oosthuizen (2), Rosko Specman. Conversions: Tristan Leyds (5), Ronald Brown (2).
Japan - Try: Kazuma Ueda.
Semi-final fixtures:
Ireland vs South Africa
Argtenina vs France
Fiji vs New Zealand
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