The first-ever HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series event in Seville is poised for a spectacular conclusion after a thrilling day of action at the Estadio Olimpico de la Cartuja. In the men's event, South Africa, winner of all three Series events so far, remain the team to beat after overcoming a tough battle with Scotland to set up a semi-final clash with Ireland @ 17h06 this afternoon.
Argentina will take on Australia on the other side of the draw @ 17:28 after coming through hard-fought quarter-finals against France and USA respectively.
South Africa won a 32nd consecutive match with a 31-24 quarter-final win over a gutsy Scotland side - only two short of equalling the second-longest winning run of all time, set by New Zealand in 2001-02.
But the Blitzboks, who have won the last five HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series events, found themselves with a tough task on their hands against the 14th seed.
Scotland captain Jamie Farndale struck first, but some superb offloading from South Africa sent Shaun Williams over the try line.
Reiss Cullen danced through the Blitzboks defence to restore the Scots’ lead, but soon after Sakoyisa Makata blew a hole through their midfield to go under the posts, and the Blitzboks then took advantage of a Ross McCann yellow card when Ryan Oosthuizen crossed in the corner.
Selvyn Davids stepped off the bench to carve a path through the Scottish defence in the second half and extend their lead, but the Scots wouldn’t back down and a virtuoso long-range effort from Kaleem Barreto made it a five-point game.
However, with the Scots one score away from a huge upset, Davids struck again to make the win safe and ensure that Jordan Edmonds’ late try was no more than a consolation.
“Super stoked with the result. We do make it difficult for ourselves at times with slow starts, letting teams have some hope,” said Oosthuizen.
“But credit to the bench, Selvyn and those guys bring the magic and they finished the game off for us.”
Ireland put in a superb performance to set up a semi-final clash with the Blitzboks, beating England 24-12 with a controlled and clinical display.
Niall Comerford and Tom Bowen exchanged tries, but the Irish were ahead at the break thanks to Tom Roche, as he profited from a sumptuous offload out of the tackle.
Mark Roche stretched over the line between two English defenders to extend Ireland’s lead after the break and punched the air in celebration after nailing the conversion too. Conor Phillips made sure of the win, with Calum Randle’s late try proving to be too little too late for England.
A strong second-half performance helped Australia see off the USA, as they came from behind to score 17 unanswered points after the break and win their quarter-final clash 29-14.
Chris Kuridrani drew first blood for Australia, but the game was turned on its head when Carlin Isles showed his trademark blistering pace to draw the Eagles level and Perry Baker immediately gathered the restart to go under the posts.
Nathan Lawson glided through defenders to get Australia back in it before the break in a taste of what was to come.
Maurice Longbottom found an equally simple task of finding a gap in the USA defence to score 30 seconds after the restart, and the American resistance collapsed when Josh Turner went over in the corner and Longbottom added a late penalty to make sure of the win.
Argentina reached their fourth Cup semi-final in a row with a 26-21 win over France in an absorbing encounter full of momentum swings.
Joachim Trouabal finished off a string of French offloads to give Les Bleus an early lead, but Rodrigo Isgro struck back for Argentina before Trouabal went from hero to villain by earning a yellow card for an intentional knock-on.
Argentina immediately made the numerical advantage count as Joaquin de la Vega crossed, and Marcos Moneta powered through to give them a comfortable 21-7 lead at half time.
The French weren’t done though, even after Luciano Gonzalez managed to hold up Varian Paquet in the try area, as tries from Stephen Parez and Jordan Sepho levelled up the score.
But Argentina started to turn the screw again and the pressure eventually told when they spread the ball wide from a scrum and Franco Sabato went in at the corner.