Regular season winners South Africa will be crowned HSBC SVNS World Champions at the end of the grand finale in Bordeaux – but they did it the hard way after qualifying for the last eight as one of the two best third-placed sides.
The Blitzboks’ quarter-final win over Fiji on day two, combined with slip-ups for their nearest rivals was enough to take them out of reach – but they will want to sign off the season on Sunday with another tournament win.
They will face host nation France, who helped them to the main title by beating Australia in the quarters, in the last four. That win ensured Les Bleus became the seventh side to confirm their place on next season’s eight-strong HSBC SVNS Series, joining South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Fiji, Spain and New Zealand on the tour.
On the other side of the draw, New Zealand – who also did their bit for South Africa by knocking Argentina out of contention for the last eight in the pool phase – will meet Spain in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, a nervy Sunday is in store for Kenya, who are hanging on to the all-important eighth place – and its qualification for next season’s HSBC SVNS Series – by their fingernails. Results on Sunday mean they could lose out to USA.
Quarter-finals: Champion Blitzboks stumble into last four after Australia hopes dashed
Valladolid winners Australia’s World Championship hopes were dashed at the quarter-final stage by inspired hosts France, who rode a partisan crowd wave to a 26-0 win, courtesy of two tries from Gregoire Arfeuil, and touchdowns for Celian Pouzelgues and Ali Dabo.
The quarter-final success confirmed France’s place on the main HSBC SVNS Series next season.
Les Bleus had earlier put their day one scare behind them with a 14-7 win over Germany to confirm their place in the last eight – Enahemo Artaud scoring in each half to settle the result.
Australia booked their place in the last eight with a hard-fought 12-10 win over Spain, Ben Dowling scoring both their tries. The losing bonus for Spain, meanwhile, meant they qualified as one of the two best third-placed sides after fighting their way back from 12-0 down shortly before the break.
Following two defeats – against Great Britain on Friday and Fiji on Saturday – in three Pool A matches, HSBC SVNS World Championship leaders South Africa were forced to rely on results elsewhere going their way to reach the last eight.
But, after Argentina had failed to qualify as one of the top two sides from Pool C, to gift the Blitzboks a quarter-final spot, and Australia were nilled in their knockout match against host nation France, the sums were clear for the Blitzboks – beat Fiji and they could not be caught in the HSBC SVNS World Championship Series standings.
They did enough with a hard-fought come-from-behind 14-12 win over Fiji – Sebastiaan Jobb scoring both their tries in the seconds either side of half-time.
It was a turnaround result from the two sides earlier meeting, a Pool A decider in which a thumping try-saving tackle prevented Impi Visser scoring what would have been a match-winning try at the end of a thrilling encounter.
Apete Narogo, George Bose and Viwa Naduvalo scored for the Pacific Islanders, who claimed a 15-12 victory to leave South Africa waiting nervously on results of the Pool C match between Argentina and New Zealand.
New Zealand eased through to the last four with a comfortable 24-5 win over a brave Great Britain side – who threw everything they could at the match, but kept crashing on an unpassable All Black wall. Brady Rush crossed the 50 try mark en route to victory.
New Zealand ended Argentina’s title challenge in a dramatic, end-to-end final pool match. Akuila Rokolisoa scored two of the All Blacks Sevens’ tries as they held off a second half fightback from Los Pumas to win 24-21.
Meanwhile, tries late in the first half for Charlton Kerr and Finley Lloyd-Gilmour were enough to beat Kenya 14-5 and send Great Britain through to the quarter-finals.
USA’s hopes of qualifying for the main HSBC SVNS Series next season took a hit after they lost 17-5 in their quarter-final against Spain – a side they had beaten on Friday in an unbeaten Pool C run. Eagles’ skipper Steve Tomasin gave them hope with an early score, but unanswered tries for Tiago Romero, Josep Serres, and Juan Ramos settled the matter.
The Eagles’ hopes now rest on the result of their fifth-place play-off against Fiji on Sunday afternoon.
They had claimed top spot in Pool B in rampant style in the opening match of the second day in Bordeaux. After Ben Broselle got their side of the scoreboard started in the second minute, it moved at a terrific lick. He added another, and Ryan Santos and Lucas Lacamp also scored in the first half, while Marcus Tupuola, Jack Wendling and Will Chevalier crossed in the second en route to a 43-7 win over HSBC SVNS 2-bound Uruguay.
Play-offs: Nervy Sunday in store for Kenya
Germany gave USA a helping hand in their hopes for HSBC SVNS Series qualification as they picked up their first win in Bordeaux by beating Kenya 7-5 in the ninth-place semi-final.
The result means Kenya, in the 11th-place final against Uruguay, can only get to a maximum 16 points in the HSBC SVNS World Championship standings. If USA beat Fiji to finish fifth, they will finish on 17 points.
In the other ninth-place semi-final, Marcos Moneta scored the hat-trick that took him to 199 career tries as Argentina beat Uruguay 26-17.