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London - South Africa, the defending London Sevens champions, won two of their three pool matches on Saturday to book themselves a Cup quarter-final clash against New Zealand on Sunday at Twickenham.
South Africa scored two good victories over Portugal and Scotland and were just 12 seconds away from what would have been a deserved victory over Australia.
However, Australia, trailing at 17-12, snatched victory from the Blitzbokke in dramatic fashion when their skipper, Ed Jenkins, burst through for the match-winning try to make the final score 19-17.
The Blitzbokke played with much determination and were clearly out to bounce back to form following their disappointing showing last week in Glasgow.
In their final pool match before a HSBC Sevens World Series record crowd of more than 60 000 spectators, it was South Africa who took the lead after a steady build-up.
Cornal Hendricks scored in the corner, but Ed Stubbs leveled matters shortly thereafter when the Aussies orchestrated a breakaway to score at the opposite side of the field.
Australia went into the break 12-5 in front after Con Foley dived over under the posts. But shortly after the restart Steven Hunt leveled scored again after skillful play from his skipper, Kyle Brown. A minute later, Hunt raced away for his second try of the match after he pounced onto a loose ball (17-12).
Unfortunately for South Africa, Frankie Horne was then yellow carded and from the resultant set piece Jenkins raced through to score the winning try.
Earlier in the day the Blitzbokke opened their account with a comfortable 41-0 win over Portugal, with Jamba Ulengo and Hunt helping themselves to two tries each.
They followed that with a 20-5 victory over Scotland. Ulengo scored another brace while Brown and Branco du Preez each scored a try.
Cup quarter-finals for the London Sevens:
New Zealand v South Africa - 11:58
Fiji v England - 12:20
Australia v Argentina - 12:42
Samoa v Spain - 13:04
Meanwhile, two wins from their three pool matches secured the South African women their spot in the knockout phase of the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup, the third IRB-sanctioned women's tournament of 2011/12.
The tournament is running alongside the London Sevens, the final round of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
So far this season Canada have won one event in Dubai and England were crowned champions in Hong Kong.
The SA Women beat Brazil 28-17 and Kazakhstan 21-12 before losing 22-0 against powerful hosts, England, in their final match.
The South Africans will now line up against Canada on Sunday in the Cup quarter-finals.
The Women’s Challenge Cup quarter-finals:
England v Russia
Canada v South Africa
Netherlands v France
Australia v USA
South Africa scored two good victories over Portugal and Scotland and were just 12 seconds away from what would have been a deserved victory over Australia.
However, Australia, trailing at 17-12, snatched victory from the Blitzbokke in dramatic fashion when their skipper, Ed Jenkins, burst through for the match-winning try to make the final score 19-17.
The Blitzbokke played with much determination and were clearly out to bounce back to form following their disappointing showing last week in Glasgow.
In their final pool match before a HSBC Sevens World Series record crowd of more than 60 000 spectators, it was South Africa who took the lead after a steady build-up.
Cornal Hendricks scored in the corner, but Ed Stubbs leveled matters shortly thereafter when the Aussies orchestrated a breakaway to score at the opposite side of the field.
Australia went into the break 12-5 in front after Con Foley dived over under the posts. But shortly after the restart Steven Hunt leveled scored again after skillful play from his skipper, Kyle Brown. A minute later, Hunt raced away for his second try of the match after he pounced onto a loose ball (17-12).
Unfortunately for South Africa, Frankie Horne was then yellow carded and from the resultant set piece Jenkins raced through to score the winning try.
Earlier in the day the Blitzbokke opened their account with a comfortable 41-0 win over Portugal, with Jamba Ulengo and Hunt helping themselves to two tries each.
They followed that with a 20-5 victory over Scotland. Ulengo scored another brace while Brown and Branco du Preez each scored a try.
Cup quarter-finals for the London Sevens:
New Zealand v South Africa - 11:58
Fiji v England - 12:20
Australia v Argentina - 12:42
Samoa v Spain - 13:04
Meanwhile, two wins from their three pool matches secured the South African women their spot in the knockout phase of the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup, the third IRB-sanctioned women's tournament of 2011/12.
The tournament is running alongside the London Sevens, the final round of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
So far this season Canada have won one event in Dubai and England were crowned champions in Hong Kong.
The SA Women beat Brazil 28-17 and Kazakhstan 21-12 before losing 22-0 against powerful hosts, England, in their final match.
The South Africans will now line up against Canada on Sunday in the Cup quarter-finals.
The Women’s Challenge Cup quarter-finals:
England v Russia
Canada v South Africa
Netherlands v France
Australia v USA
