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Dubai - The Springboks have relinquished their Dubai tournament title in the IRB Sevens series on Saturday when they were beaten 17-5 by Fiji in the first of the Cup quarter-finals played.
The Springboks played it tight as expected against the expansive Fijians - and while the tactic was sound, the execution was not with too many turnovers in the closely fought match negating good build-ups.
South Africa will meet Kenya, who lost 17-14 to New Zealand in the last move of the day, in the semi-final of the Plate competition.
South Africa controlled possession for close on two minutes with Fiji not getting their hands on the ball at all.
When they did, a turnover gave the Springboks an opportunity and after some good support Ryno Benjamin scored (5-0).
On the stroke of half-time, Fiji's William Ryder kicked and chased for 80 metres to make tie the score at the break at 5-all after a ruck infringement by the Boks when they were on attack.
With the Boks defence outstanding, Fiji again made use of this tactic three minutes into the second half and this time a long, risky pass to the inside to enable Jiuta Lutumailagi to score under the posts did exactly that (12-5 to Fiji).
The Springboks' handling was a tad shaky in a match where they kept the ball tied up rather than take it wide. A handling turnover on time when the Boks tried to run from their own 22 gave Watisoni Votu his chance after some good defence and interplay by the Fijians - and South Africa's dream to retain their Dubai title lay in tatters.
