Blitzboks beat Ireland to book semifinal spot in Sydney Sevens

The Blitzboks booked their place in the semifinals of the Sydney Sevens with a 26-12 win over Ireland in the quarterfinals, displaying classic rugby, mixed with individual brilliance and a little bit of luck too.

The victory was the Springbok Sevens' fourth on the bounce in Sydney after they beat Uruguay and New Zealand to top their pool, and got revenge for last weekend in Hamilton, when Ireland beat them in the fifth-place semifinal.

The Blitzboks were out of the blocks in no time when Christie Grobbelaar went over in the first minute as the men in green and gold went wide and Dalvon Blood presented a delightful inside pass to allow Grobbelaar to race 55m downfield for the five points, which became seven as Ricardo Duarttee added the conversion.

A few minutes later, Grobbelaar was in again, this time after Impi Visser shrugged off a few tackles before putting his fellow forward over from short range.

Ireland pulled one back by Aaron O'Sullivan with two minutes left before the break, but the Blitzboks had the final say in the first half when Shaun Williams' pinpoint cross-kick found Shilton van Wyk on the right-hand side of the field, with Duarttee's conversion making it 19-7.

The Irish were first on the scoreboard in the second half when Andrew Smith went over after some missed tackles by the Blitzboks, with five minutes left in the match.

Moments later though, Jaiden Baron sealed the deal with some individual brilliance not long after he came on as a replacement.

Baron showed why he is nicknamed “The Wind” as he showed some superb soccer skills to kick the ball through for a try that he started and finished himself, though he was a bit lucky as the assistant referee missed a foot in touch as he was exhibiting his fancy footwork.

Ireland came with one final push, but the Blitzboks kept them at bay to advance to Sunday's semifinals, where they will face Fiji at 7.28am.

Scorers:

Blitzboks 26 (19) — Tries: Christie Grobbelaar (2), Shilton van Wyk, Jaiden Baron. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (3).

Ireland 12 (7) — Tries: Aaron O'Sullivan, Andrew Smith. Conversion: Billy Dardis.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.