The result means that they will play off for 11th place at Hong Kong Stadium on Sunday where they will face Spain at 04h26 (SA time).

Irrespective of the outcome of the Spain match, these results mean that the team will not finish in the top eight of the overall HSBC SVNS Series and will be involved in the play-off tournament when the series concludes in Madrid in May. 

Assistant coach, Cecil Afrika, said despite the results, good growth and improvement was seen, but lamented the absence of good decision-making when big moments occurred.

Against Great Britain, with time up on the clock and trailing by a point, South Africa had a two-player advantage with two opponents sin-binned, but could not finish off an attacking move from a scrum and were bundled into touch.

"Those are moments that cost us dearly," Afrika said. "One would expect a side to score in situations like that, but we just could not execute in that moment. We were in a good position to win the match and then executed poorly and that is frustrating. The good part of the growth is that we came so close and the team will be better for it," he said.

"I think we improved game by game and the coaching staff are pleased with such progress, but sadly the scoreboard did not reflect that."

South Africa scored first against Great Britain when Ayanda Malinga stepped inside a couple of defenders, but three unanswered tries by Great Britain handed them a 15-7 lead at the break.

A wonderful solo effort by Nadine Roos, who converted her own try as well, cut the deficit to one point. Despite several opportunities, first against six players and then five in the last play of the day, they could not complete a remarkable comeback.

Australia, currently leading the HSBC SVNS log, proved just too slick for the SA side in their early game. Despite being put under good defensive pressure throughout the game, they managed to score two tries in each half to romp home 28-0.

Scorers:

South Africa 0 (0), Australia 28 (14)

Aus - Tries: Maddison Levi (2), Faith Nathan (2). Conversions: Teagan Levi (2), Tia Hinds (2).

South Africa 14 (7), Great Britain 15 (15)

SA - Tries: Ayanda Malinga, Nadine Roos. Conversions: Roos (2).

GB - Tries: Ellie Boatman, Heather Cowell, Isla Norman-Bell.