The Springbok Women's Sevens moved up to second place on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger log on Saturday, despite a disappointing 17-0 defeat to Kenya in the final of the second tournament at Athlone Stadium on Saturday evening.
South Africa, who finished third last weekend, are on 34 points, with the Kenyans, who defended their title from last weekend, at the top on 40 points. Argentina and Colombia are third and fourth respectively with 30 points.
The final was a huge disappointment for the crowd who showed up. The Bok Women, who lost Zintle Mpupha due to suspension for a high tackle in the semi-final, failed to fire a shot, with numerous handling errors the order of the day.
No less than six handling errors occurred when the final pass was delivered, with both wingers, Maria Tshiremba and Ayanda Malinga, not on song.
Kenya, on the other hand, remained patient with ball in hand and pounced when it mattered. They scored tries on either side of the break and nailed the coffin shut with a converted try with just under two minutes to play.
To compound matters for the home side, they lost Kayla Swarts with injury near the end of the match.
Earlier on Saturday, the Bok Women's Sevens had to dig deep but ultimately did enough to book their spot in the final with a 21-15 victory over Czechia in the first semi-final.
The South Africans had to worst possible start, conceding two yellow cards - to Leigh Fortuin and Mathrin Simmers - in the opening exchanges, which allowed the Czechs to take a 10-0 lead with two unconverted tries.
Once they were back to seven players, the Bok Women hit their straps, with Maria Tshiremba scoring twice late in the first half, with Nadine Roos adding the extras to give South Africa a 14-10 lead at the break.
Roos scored shortly after the break with a great run up the middle of the field, adding the conversion to make it 21-10.
However, more disciplinary issues followed when Kemisetso Baloyi and Zintle Mpupha were also yellow carded in quick succession, leaving South Africa playing with only five players for a second time in the match.
Czechia used this numerical advantage well and scored their third try, again unconverted, to make it 21-15 and leave the local fans on the edge of their seats.
South Africa did very well to play out the match and when their sin-binned players returned, they ran the clock down for a tight win to secure their place in the final.
Scorers:
Semi-final: South Africa 21 (14) Czechia 15 (10)
SA - Tries: Maria Tshiremba (2), Nadine Roos. Conversions: Nadine Roos (3).
Czechia - Tries: Veronika Bolfová, Julie Doležilová, Tereza Bathová.
Final: South Africa 0 Kenya 17 (10)
Kenya - Tries: Freshia Oduor, Sharon Auma, Naomi Amuguni. Conversion: Sinaida Nyachio.