The Blitzboks beat Fiji in their second pool game by 17-7 before putting in a polished display in their final pool game against France, winning 26-7. The quarter-final against Great Britain ended in a 21-14 win for South Africa – match reports available here.
Blitzbok head coach Sandile Ngcobo was a relieved man at the conclusion of day two and said the three victories were based on hard work and a team playing for each other.
“We need to do all of that again on Sunday if we want to do justice to the efforts today,” the coach warned.
“We had some big games today and the team fought hard for each other and that was very pleasing to see. Fiji will always be a tough opponent, but we applied good pressure at the right time.
“The match against France was a different challenge and again we managed to adapt and use very good defence to get the win.”
Ngcobo was incredibly pleased about the win over Great Britain, a team that beat the Blitzboks in both tournaments so far in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, in Hong Kong and Dubai.
“That was personal – they won those matches because we allowed them to,” said Ngcobo.
“It was our mistakes and our failures in those games and that hurt. So today, we needed to fix that and we did.
“There were still errors and issues, but we pulled that one through thanks to a great effort from the squad. They are starting to execute the way we want and that brings the results, along with the effort.”
The Blitzboks beat Samoa in Dubai last weekend, but Ngcobo is not looking at past results: “We will need to put our shoulders into their bodies and make proper hits if we want to be successful. They are a very good team and will come at us all day.”
Ngcobo is excited to see a decent crowd support the team at DHL Stadium on Sunday.
“It is amazing how much energy the crowd gives the team. We really respond well to their support and we would love a good crown cheering us on come Sunday,” he said.
The match against Samoa starts at 15h46. In the first semi-final, USA will meet New Zealand at 15h24.
