Cape Town - The Blitzboks endured a miserable start to the Los Angeles Sevens tournament in more miserable weather losing two of their Pool B matches, but scraping through to the Cup quarter-final.
But because they did not top their pool, they will now face the dangerous Fiji (Sunday at 20:45) for a place in the semifinal of the USA tournament.
It was not an easy day for the Blitzboks as they lost to Ireland (5-14) and Uruguay (5-10) in the final two pool matches. They managed a 12-0 win over Canada in the first and thanks to other results going their way in the group, they made the playoffs.
The Springbok Sevens struggled to get anything on the attack going in all three of the pool matches. The wet and soggy pitch of the Dignity Park stadium did not assist them at all but while other teams were piling on the tries, the Blitzboks just couldn't get going.
They controlled most of the possession against Canada and were in total control although they didn't create enough chances to finish.
Errors crept in during the matches against Uruguay and Ireland and it allowed the Uruguayans to capitalise for a shock win.
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The Blitzboks led 5-0 at halftime against the South Americans but failed to score any points in the second half and conceded two tries, one at the death, to lose.
Against Ireland they again looked flat-footed and couldn't string any attack together. This will be a concern for coach Sandile Ngcobo because his team is equipped with some of the deadliest attackers on the Sevens circuit.
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But they look disjointed on the attack and for the first time in years, maybe even a first-ever, the Blitzboks scored fewer points than they conceded in the pool stages of a tournament.
This will have to be rectified before they take on Fiji who dismantled Japan in fine Fijian style with a 50-0 blackout. The Islanders also pipped series contenders Australia to top their pool.
IOL Sport