Ireland crushed the Blitzboks' dreams in the HSBC New Zealand Sevens' 5th-place semifinal beating the men from South Africa 21-14.
The Blitzboks opened the scoring when Shaun Williams scored his fourth try in New Zealand to give the Blitzboks an early lead of 07-00. However, two tries in quick succession gave Ireland a 14-07 lead going into the halftime break.
Jaiden Baron scored a second try for the Blitzbok early in the second half to level the scores at 14-14. Ireland continued to put pressure on the Blitzboks' defence and eventually score the winning try with a minute to go.
Scorers:
Blitzboks: Tries: Shaun Williams, Jaiden Baron. Conversions: Shaun Williams, Ricardo Duartee.
Ireland: Tries: Liam McNamara, Billy Dardis, Jordan Conroy. Conversions: Billy Dardis (3)
Teams:
Blitzboks: Ryan Oosthuizen, Impi Visser, Christie Grobbelaar, Shaun Williams, Shilton van Wyk, Dalvon Blood, Ricardo Duarttee. Replacements: Siviwe Soyizwapi, Zain Davids, Darren Adonis, JMasanda Mtshali, Jaiden Baron.
Ireland: Harry McNulty, Aaron O'Sullivan, Niall Comerford, Billy Dardis, Terry Kennedy, Ed Kelly, Liam McNamara. Replacements: Jordan Conroy, Mark Roche, Bryan Mollen, Jack Kelly, Andrew Smith.
