Blitzboks stalwart heartbroken after agonising Samoa defeat: 'This will really hurt'

Blitzboks star JC Pretorius was left heartbroken after South Africa lost to Samoa in their Cup semi-final of the Cape Town Sevens on Sunday.

The Springbok Sevens lost 10-7 in extra-time as Faafoi Falaniko drop kicked a penalty to broke home hearts.

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Pretorius said afterwards that the Blitzboks did not capitalise on their opportunities against a spirited Samoan outfit.

"It's just heartbreaking, especially with how things went. We played our worst game in the semi-final," Pretorius told reporters on Sunday.

"We didn't capitalise on the opportunities, when you come out in the knockout stages, you need to use your opportunities and we weren't clinical enough.

"Before the game, they said they're going to counteract us and in the first half we didn't look after our ball and that's what went wrong. The opportunities we got, we slipped up."

Pretorius confirmed that the Cape Town event would be his final Sevens tournament.

The Blitzboks stalwart is making the transition to XVs as he'll look to represent the Lions in the Challenge Cup and United Rugby Championship.

"It's rugby, especially coming into Cape Town, there's extra pressure on us. We can just blame ourselves and that cost us the game," said Pretorius.

"This will really hurt, but that's Sevens you only have five minutes to be sad. Especially [for] me as this will be my last Sevens tournament, I'm going back to the Lions."

The Blitzboks will play USA in the Bronze final at 18:59 on Sunday.