Rugby
Blitzboks to take on Spain in Cape Town Sevens semi-final─── ILSE SMALBERGER 07:57 Sun, 08 Dec 2024
There was a good energy in the group all week. So overall there is a positive mindset all around and that showed today.
The Blitzboks will face Spain in the semi-finals of the HSBC SVNS Cape Town on Sunday after thrashing both Argentina and Ireland in their pool matches on Saturday. Earlier on Saturday, the Blitzboks beat Ireland comfortably by 34 points to 7. They then went on to beat Argentina 29-7 in the last match of the first day at the DHL Stadium.
After the match against Argentina, South Africa’s head coach Philip Snyman said everyone in the team had a clear understanding of their role on the day.
“We created a lot of pressure and that gave us turnovers, especially in the last game against Argentina. We are not getting ahead of ourselves because we are in the semi-finals. There was good energy in the group all week. So overall there is a positive mindset all around and that showed today. That is done now, we have achieved our aim to finish top of the pool, but the work is far from completed,” he said.
The #Blitzboks will face Spain in the #HSBCSVNS Cape Town semi-finals on Sunday after winning both their pool matches in impressive fashion on Saturday - more here: https://t.co/gc1gUVfMjt ?#PoweredByUnity #ItsAWholeVibe pic.twitter.com/099YK6qx8Z
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) December 7, 2024
In the second men’s semi-final, Fiji will take on France in a repeat of the Olympic gold medal match as both teams topped their pools with perfect win records.
Dubai finalists Spain secured a semi-final berth for the second week running with a strong 19-14 win over Australia in the deciding match of Pool B. Earlier in the day, they beat returning African team Kenya by 14-7.
To get to the semi-finals, Olympic champions France thrashed New Zealand 47-15 after an eight-try 50-12 win over the USA earlier in the day. Fiji began the day with a 10-try 70-7 victory over Uruguay, before having to work very hard to get a 17-12 victory over Great Britain to top pool A.