After finishing a disappointing seventh at the Hamilton Sevens on Sunday, the Blitzboks find themselves in fourth place in the World Rugby Sevens Series standings after four rounds Argentina were crowned champions in Hamilton after they beat home favourites New Zealand 14-12 in the final.
The Blitzboks will need to up their game as the top four teams in the standings will automatically qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games when the series ends later this year.
South Africa started the tournament well but faded on Sunday, as they lost 22-17 to France and then 21-14 to Ireland, with coach Sandile Ngcobo noting their defence wasn't good enough. "We have a team motto and culture, and one of those are at least 80% tackle completion, something we did not do today," said Ngcobo. "I think we were grabbing arms and not trying to get our shoulders on bodies, which resulted in some missed tackles, and we paid the price.
We were not quite there today. "When we lost the battle on the floor and contested poorly at the kick-offs, we placed ourselves under a lot of pressure.