By Lucky Vince Pienaar
When the Blitzboks went into half-time, it looked less than promising for the South Africans. Not only were they trailing by 12 points, they seemed to have slipped into the absent-minded cruising phase that has frustrated the lovers of South African sevens for so long.
But in the second half it was all Blitzboks. After the ninth minute when Australia had scored four tries and the Blitzboks had scored only one through Zain Davids, it looked as if the Wallabies would cruise into the last four of the tournament.
But then the Blitzboks came alive and at full time the scores were tied at 24-24 as Quewin Nortje scored under the posts a minute after fulltime.
But the Blitzboks had left it too late. Nick Malouf scored the winning try after a tense four minutes of extra time. Australia go into the final four, while South Africa play Argentina in the fifth place playoff on Sunday morning.
The Blitzboks have delighted their fans with impressive and exciting come-from-behind recoveries, but in truth, that is no way to consistently win matches. No doubt, Philip Snyman and the Blitzboks management will be very much aware of that. We now look forward to the final HSBC tournament of the year in Madrid on 31 May.
Blitzboks 24-29 Australia
Blitzboks tries: Zain Davids, Tristan Leyds, Christie Grobbelaar, Quewin Nortje
Australia tries: Nathan Lawson (2), Dietrich Roache, Henry Hutchison, Nick Malouf
Pictured above: Blitzboks vs Australia
Image source: @blitzboks
