Ireland handed the Blitzboks their first defeat of the season. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
The Blitzboks will face Australia in the Cape Town Sevens quarter-finals after suffering a tense defeat to Ireland in their final pool match on Saturday night.
A second-half comeback attempt proved to be too little, too late as Ireland held on for a 14-12 victory to hand the tournament hosts their first loss of the season.
Ultimately the Blitzboks ran out of time as Dewald Human dotted down from a powerful counter-ruck with 30 seconds to go, with Ireland keeping their composure to win the kick-off and hoof the ball into touch.
Ireland went into the break leading 14-5 thanks to a converted brace from Gavin Mullin, punshing the Blitzboks for making uncharacteristic risky offloads and handling errors after Rosko Specman scored in the corner to give the home side an early lead.
South Africa will play Australia, who finished top of Pool C with two wins from three, in the quarter-finals on Sunday morning (11.18am), while Ireland take on 11-time Cape Town Sevens champions New Zealand, who sneaked into the playoffs despite finishing third in Pool C.
This article first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission.