Boks make quarter-finals

Dubai - South Africa maintained their unbeaten record in the pool stages of the World Cup Sevens at Dubai on Friday when they beat Scotland 19-14 after leading 14-7 at halftime.

That means that the Springboks are assured of a quarter-final spot where they will meet Argentina, impressive winners of Pool F who clinched their berth with a 14-0 over Wales.

South Africa edged ahead against Scotland through first-half tries from Vuyo Zangqa and Paul Delport and had to work hard to keep out Scotland after the break.

Earlier on Friday South Africa beat Canada 15-7 to add to their first-day 26-5 win over Japan.

South Africa made relatively hard work of beating unfancied Canada 15-7 after leading 10-0 at halftime.

Both the Springboks' scores in the first half - by Ryno Benjamin and Mpoho Mbiyozo - came from quick tap penalties taken by Paul Delport that wrong footed the Canadian players.

Canada saw little of the ball before halftime, and were hardly out of their 22, but the second half belonged to the North American side who had most of the possession and made most of the play.

Neil Meecham scored after South Africa missed three tackles and with the conversion good, South Africa led only 10-7 with just more than two minutes remaining. And then the Boks' World Cup dream seemed to be denied when Canada scored after having the Boks defence all at sea with only 90 seconds on the clock.

They were pulled back by the referee, however, because of a forward pass.

There was enough time for the experienced Renfred Dazel to score again for the Springboks and clinch an unexpectedly difficult match 15-7 against a side that has not been much of a factor in recent years.