By Brenden Nel.
A disciplined and clinical performance from the Springbok Sevens took them one step closer to defending their Dubai Sevens title with a 24-7 victory over Australia to book their place in the semifinals.
The Blitzboks will now face South Sea magicians Fiji in their semifinal at 12.04pm (CAT, GMT+2) after the latter survived a late comeback from Ireland to win 29-24 after leading 29-0 at the break.
The Blitzboks were in fine form and scored after just three minutes from Quewin Nortje and this was followed up by a second try by Zain Davids, whose try needed to be confirmed by the TMO.
A yellow card for a high tackle to Justin Geduld late in the first half opened the door for Australia, who made the most of their one man advantage to score through Nathan Lawson just before the break, but once the Blitzboks had a full compliment they put the hammer down and didn’t look back.
Rosko Specman latched onto a grubber through to put them further ahead and Ronald Brown finished the game with a try as the South Africans continued their march.
Fiji will be tough opposition in the semifinal, but are also the perfect test for the Blitzboks on one of their favourite grounds.