England produced a massive performance on Sunday to beat the Blitzboks and book a place in the Sevens World Cup final in San Francisco.
Though the Blitzboks scored first, it was England who managed to produce a composed performance at AT&T Park.
The Springbok Sevens side’s performance certainly didn’t match the monster, near perfect effort they beat Scotland with in the quarter-final.
In the build-up to their only try, Selvyn Davids showed blistering pace and backed himself as he sprinted across the field to score in the corner.
And his conversion was just as impressive as he struck it perfectly from an angle to put South Africa 7-0 up.
England responded with a stunning try from a lineout after sending the ball wide to Harry Glover, and they struck again when Tom Mitchell ran in another unconverted try to make it 10-7 to the English.
The Blitzboks were made to feel the pressure when England turned the ball over on the ground – an area in which the men in green are usually extremely dominant in – and set Ruaridh McConnochie up for another try, and Mitchell added the conversion to stretch their lead 17-7.
Discipline started evading the SA side and a few mistakes slipped in, and England exploited that well enough to get another try through Oliver Lindsay-Hague.
England did well to deprive South Africa of possession, and with 20 seconds to go, the all-time top try scorer Dan Norton ran in his first try in the semi.
This game is rocking @ATTPark
This is what rugby sevens is all about. #RWC7s pic.twitter.com/gRF89aeybQ
— Rugby World Cup Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) July 22, 2018
The Blitzboks will face Fiji – who went down against New Zealand – in the third-place playoffs at 2.24am SA time on Monday morning, while two-time tournament winners New Zealand and one-time winner England will contest the final at 2.53am.
Points-Scorers
South Africa 7 – Try: Selvyn Davids. Conversion: Davids (1).
England 29 – Tries: Harry Glover, Tom Mitchell, Ruaridh McConnochie, Oliver Lindsay-Hague, Dan Norton. Conversions: Mitchell (1), Norton (1).
@WynonaLouw