Cape Town - Wales scored their first ever victory over South Africa when they defeated the Blitzbokke 17-5 at the Glasgow Sevens on Saturday to top Pool D in the penultimate HSBC Sevens World Series tournament of the season.
The Welsh led 12-5 at halftime and scored another try after halftime to shut out the South Africans, who gave debuts to three players. South Africa will now face England in the first Cup quarter-final fixture on Sunday.
Injuries ruled out Cecil Afrika, Paul Delport and Boom Prinsloo, opening the way for Varsity Cup stars Jamba Ulengo (Shimlas), Ryan Nell (Maties) and Clayton Blommetjies (Tuks) to make their Sevens debuts for South Africa.
Rhys Shellard scored in the corner after a quick tap to give Wales a 7-0 lead in their final pool match of the day. A rare mistake by SA captain, Kyle Brown, then allowed Ifan Evans to race through for Wales’ second (12-0). Just before the halftime whistle Ulengo scored his debut SA try to reduce the deficit to 12-5.
In the second half Tom Grabham scored his first World Series try after beating the challenges of Steven Hunt and Du Preez before crashing over in the corner (17-5) to secure a historic win for Wales.
South Africa had to work hard for their two earlier pool victories. Steven Hunt opened the scoring against Russia and he was quickly followed by Chris Dry. Branco du Preez powered his way over to make the score 17-0 at halftime. Russia had other ideas however, and two tries in the second half, aided by some tenacious defending, restricted the Blitzbokke to a narrow 17-14 win.
The clash again hosts Scotland almost followed the same pattern. Tries by Frankie Horne and Hunt gave SA a swift 12-0 lead before Colin Gregor went over for Scotland (12-7). Gregor then scored his second to give the Scots a brief 14-12 lead with some three minutes to go.
Horne then scored the decider after Philip Burger, back in the side since the 2006/7 season did some great work try (19-14).
New Zealand are currently leading the World Series standings, followed by Fiji, South Africa, England and Samoa.
The Cup quarter-final draw for Sunday at the Glasgow Sevens:
England vs. South Africa
Fiji vs. Samoa
Wales vs. Australia
New Zealand vs. Argentina
The Welsh led 12-5 at halftime and scored another try after halftime to shut out the South Africans, who gave debuts to three players. South Africa will now face England in the first Cup quarter-final fixture on Sunday.
Injuries ruled out Cecil Afrika, Paul Delport and Boom Prinsloo, opening the way for Varsity Cup stars Jamba Ulengo (Shimlas), Ryan Nell (Maties) and Clayton Blommetjies (Tuks) to make their Sevens debuts for South Africa.
Rhys Shellard scored in the corner after a quick tap to give Wales a 7-0 lead in their final pool match of the day. A rare mistake by SA captain, Kyle Brown, then allowed Ifan Evans to race through for Wales’ second (12-0). Just before the halftime whistle Ulengo scored his debut SA try to reduce the deficit to 12-5.
In the second half Tom Grabham scored his first World Series try after beating the challenges of Steven Hunt and Du Preez before crashing over in the corner (17-5) to secure a historic win for Wales.
South Africa had to work hard for their two earlier pool victories. Steven Hunt opened the scoring against Russia and he was quickly followed by Chris Dry. Branco du Preez powered his way over to make the score 17-0 at halftime. Russia had other ideas however, and two tries in the second half, aided by some tenacious defending, restricted the Blitzbokke to a narrow 17-14 win.
The clash again hosts Scotland almost followed the same pattern. Tries by Frankie Horne and Hunt gave SA a swift 12-0 lead before Colin Gregor went over for Scotland (12-7). Gregor then scored his second to give the Scots a brief 14-12 lead with some three minutes to go.
Horne then scored the decider after Philip Burger, back in the side since the 2006/7 season did some great work try (19-14).
New Zealand are currently leading the World Series standings, followed by Fiji, South Africa, England and Samoa.
The Cup quarter-final draw for Sunday at the Glasgow Sevens:
England vs. South Africa
Fiji vs. Samoa
Wales vs. Australia
New Zealand vs. Argentina