Blitzboks beat Japan to finish 13th at Canada Sevens

There was some consolation for the Springbok Sevens side as they beat Japan 19-7 in the 13th-place playoff final in Vancouver on Monday morning (SA time).

MATCH CENTRE | Canada Sevens

A brace of tries from Zain Davids and a try by Mfundo Ndhlovu enabled the Blitzboks to stay clear of the Japanese.

The scores were deadlocked at 5-5 at half-time, before the South Africans dominated the second stanza. Late on Sunday night, the Blitzboks beat hosts Canada 31-14 to qualify for the 13th-place playoff final.

But it was still a nightmare tournament for head coach Sandile Nqobo's charges. A draw to France and then defeat to Argentina meant that the Blitzboks could not get out of their pool, and things then went from bad to worse when they lost 17-12 to African neighbours Kenya in their 9th-place quarter-final. 

The Blitzboks will have some soul searching to do as they also performed poorly at the LA Sevens the previous week.

There they were hammered 45-5 by Samoa in the 5th-place semi-final. The South Africans were thumped 28-7 by Fiji in the Cup quarter-finals, and also lost 10-5 to Uruguay and 14-5 to Ireland in pool play. Their only win was a 12-0 success over Canada in their opening game.

Los Pumas surge in series standings

Meanwhile, Argentina were crowned champions in Vancouver after beating France 33-21 in the Cup final.

Argentina's victory saw them move to within 12 points of New Zealand (120 points) at the top of the World Rugby Sevens Series standings as the circuit heads to Asia for the Hong Kong Sevens on 31 March.

The Blitzboks are now a lowly seventh on the standings with 89 points.