Cape Town — The Blitzboks put in an uncharacteristic display in their last pool game on Day One of the Singapore Sevens as the USA snapped their winning streak to top Pool A.
The South Africans had been undefeated in 36 World Sevens Series games before heading into their pool-decider on Saturday, which they lost 7-12.
Earlier in the day, Neil Powell's side claimed a 31-5 win over Canada, before going on to beat Kenya 26-5 in their second outing of the day.
36 wins on the spin for South Africa
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) April 9, 2022
And then @USARugby went toe-to-toe in the final match of day one in Singapore...#HSBC7s | #Singapore7s pic.twitter.com/ZqqnVQO2ak
The USA came out on a mission and produced a much more clinical performance than their opposition, whose cause weren’t helped at all by their error rate and overall lacklustre performance.
The USA were first on the scoresheet after a slipped tackle allowed David Still to visit SA’s in-goal. The converted score saw them go 7-0 up at half time.
Ryan Oosthuizen ran in the defending Series champions’ only try, and speed merchant Perry Baker scored at the death to seal an impressive win for the Americans.
🚨 @USARugby have done it! 🚨
A brilliant Perry Baker try with the last play of the game sees the Eagles end South Africa's remarkable 36-match winning streak #HSBC7s | #Singapore7s pic.twitter.com/wcxqi5zghw
The result will see the BlitzBoks face Fiji in the quarter-finals, while the USA will face Ireland.
In the other quarter-final matches, New Zealand will go up against Samoa, while Australia will face against Argentina.
Point scorers:
South Africa 7 — Try: Ryan Oosthuizen Conversion: Dewald Human
USA 12 — Tries: David Still, Perry Baker Conversion: Lucas Lacamp
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