The Blitzboks regained the energy that was missing in the afternoon when they outsmarted Australia 29-7 to end day one unbeaten at the Cape Town Sevens.
The Springbok Sevens side will take on Wales in the first Cup quarter-final on Sunday at 12.04pm.
Having made a few frustrating handling and defensive errors in the 28-10 win over USA – they easily dispatched Russia 41-0 in their first game on Saturday – Neil Powell’s team were engaged in a confrontational opening few minutes against Australia, who used the rush defence to great effect.
The visitors closed down the space of the fleet-footed Blitzboks, and even threw in a couple of late hits on Seabelo Senatla and Co to try and unsettle the South Africans.
But it was captain Philip Snyman who broke the deadlock when playmaker extraordinaire Cecil Afrika took a quick tap and drew the defence before sending his skipper over in the corner.
Before long, the capacity crowd at the Cape Town Stadium were up on their feet again when Kyle Brown ran a superb line to dart through the defence, and Afrika himself dotted down for a 17-0 halftime lead.
Snyman added his second after the Blitzboks won a breakdown turnover, but the try of the game came from Ruhan Nel, who raced down the left touchline to outstrip the cover defence.
Australian captain Sam Myers benefited from some terrific footwork by Henry Hutchison to score a consolation try, but it was not enough as the men from Down Under were knocked out of the Cup competition after losing 19-0 to USA earlier.
“Teams are now looking at different ways to counter us, and especially Australia played a very physical match against us,” Powell said.
“We have a number of quick-steppers in our team and our opponents are trying to stop that. So it could have been better, but I am pleased that we topped the pool. That is always our first aim on day one.
“Where our line was breached, the guys worked hard to get back and we only conceded three tries. That is very good. Wales played well in Dubai and improved a lot this week as well. We will have to prepare well for them if we want to continue in the tournament.”
New Zealand survived a major scare as they drew 19-19 with Canada, but they still managed to top Pool C ahead of England, who now have to face defending World Series champions Fiji in the quarter-finals.
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POINTS-SCORERS
Blitzboks – Tries: Philip Snyman (2), Kyle Brown, Cecil Afrika, Ruhan Nel. Conversions: Branco du Preez (2).
Australia – Tries: Sam Myers. Conversions: James Stannard (1).
Cup Quarter-Finals
12.04pm: Blitzboks vs Wales
12.26pm: New Zealand vs Kenya
12.48pm: Scotland vs USA
1.10pm: Fiji vs England