Spirited Shujaa knocked out of main cup contention by South Africa

Despite finishing off the game strongly, a dominant display from South Africa ensured that the men's national 7s rugby team, Shujaa, could not progress to the semifinals of the Dubai 7s for a second week running as they were knocked out of main cup contention following a 31-19 defeat to the Blitzboks.

Coming into the match as the defending champions who were on a peerless 21 match winning streak, the Neil Powell coached side made it 22 victories on the trot after running in five tries from different scorers against Kenya's three, the South Africans staying truly on course to defend their crown as they booked their semis clash against France.

Known for their ruthless efficiency on breakdowns, the Blitzboks did not take long to stamp their authority in the match. After turning over the ball, the South Africans offloaded to Zain Davids who got the game’s opening try just a minute into the game.

Immediately from the restart, the immaculate South Africans then showed why they are the team to beat as Branco du Preez gathered the ball for them before Selvyn Davids offloaded the ball to captain Siviwe Soyizwapi who rolled his way over the line for a corner post try that put them 10-0 ahead following missed conversion attempts for both tries.

Shujaa then reduced the deficit in the match to only three points as they appeared to have weathered South Africa’s early storm. The team displaying good patience with their side to side play that ended up with Alvin Marube powering his way over the try line and Anthony Omondi successfully converting to get the game to 10-7.

A lapse in concentration however allowed the Blitzboks to restore their ten point lead as Ronald Brown’s centre post try was easily converted to get the half time score to 17-7.

Just as the first, South Africa made a quick start in the second half as successfully converted tries from Christie Grobelaar and Shaun Williams took their lead to 31-7.

Shujaa however threatened to get back in the match as Timothy Mmasi and Jeff Oluoch showed brilliant spirit in getting two late tries for the team that reduced the deficit to 31-19, their efforts proving too little too late as time ran out.

Following the loss, Shujaa will seek a revenge against USA when the two lock horns in the 5th place semifinal match at 12:57pm.

Dubai7s: Shujaa suffer last-minute heartache against the USA