The Springbok Women's Sevens team had an up-and-down start in their first two pool games of the HSBC SVNS Play-off tournament at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles on Saturday, beating Ireland by 12-7 before going down to China 26-12 in their second game.
The South Africans started slowly against Ireland, but soon warmed to the challenge. A silly error in their red zone handed the Irish an easy converted try to make it 7-0 barely a minute into the Pool B fixture.
Credit to the South Africans, though, who stayed calm and started to dominate their opponents with pressing defence and good game management, and it was no surprise when Ayanda Malinga raced 80m to score soon after.
The centre found an outside gap following a good scrum by her teammates and ran in to score under the sticks a minute before the break. Nadine Roos converted to level scores at half-time.
It was Roos who scored the next and decisive try for South Africa. Eleven minutes into the match and with both sides looking for the knock-out punch, a brilliant turnover and pass from Zintle Mpupha gave Roos some real estate to cover, and she raced away for a five-pointer 80m downfield.
Credit to Ireland, who kept on attacking, but they could not find any gaps in the South African defence, who held out for the perfect start.
Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite the same against China, who were out of the blocks in no time and scored three converted first-half tries to take a commanding 21-0 lead into the break after a sluggish start by the South Africans, and despite a much improved second half, they could not overhaul their Asian opponents, who secured a semi-final spot on day two.
China had all the play in the first half of the match, with South Africa guilty of missed tackles, poor handling and average game management. The injury to team captain Mathrin Simmers, who was ruled out due to an HIA in the Ireland match, was telling as the Bok Women struggled to get into the match, and their apathy in the first half proved critical.
The second half was much better, with speed on attack and more precise play with ball in hand, helped by the injection of Alicia Willemse into the game, handing them two tries, by Rights Mkhari and Leigh Fortuin, with the second five-pointer closing the gap to 21-12 with just over a minute to play. China responded well, though and raced away for the final points of the match from the restart.
The Bok Women are still in the running for the semi-finals courtesy of their earlier victory over Ireland, and a win over Argentina on Sunday evening at 19h00 (SA time) will see them book a spot in the top four.
Scorers:
South Africa 12 (7) Ireland 7 (7)
South Africa - Tries: Ayanda Malinga, Nadine Roos. Conversion: Roos.
Ireland - Try: Kathy Baker. Conversion: Kate Farrell McCabe.
South Africa 12 (0) China 26 (21)
South Africa - Tries: Rights Mkhari, Leigh Fortuin. Conversion: Nadine Roos.
China - Tries: Chen Can, Wang Wanyu (2), Dou Xinrong. Conversions: Chen Keyi (3).