Durban - It was heart-break for the Springbok Women in Auckland on Sunday when a last-second try by Fiji won the game and ended South Africa’s hopes of progressing beyond the pool stages of the World Cup.
Fiji won a hard-fought tussle 21-17 in what was a “final” of sorts for the two lower-ranked teams in pool C. England and France are the giants of the pool and are already through to the quarter-finals and the winner of this game had the carrot of squeaking into the playoffs.
The Boks still have to play England but, realistically, they have zero chance of beating the No 1 team in the world.
The Boks had spoken pre-game of a plan to stifle the Fijians at source, to dominate their forwards and remove the flying Fijian backs from the game, but this did not come to pass and the Pacific Islanders played a quick game that at times resembled Sevens, and their opponents were forced into exhausting cover defence.
What a game! Not our day, but congratulations to @fijirugby on a massive contest. We go again next weekend. #TogetherMovingForward #RWC2021 pic.twitter.com/ZZnoToPJ7K
Early in the game, Fiji had a try disallowed because of a forward pass but they did open the scoring when their backs cashed in on having an extra player because Bok right wing Nomawethu Mabenge had been yellow carded for a deliberate slap down, the try going to left wing Ilisapeci Delaiwau.
Conceding penalties would be an ongoing problem for the South Africans as they frantically tried to stop the Fijian attack.
Ironically, it was a loose situation in the Fijian 22 that allowed the Boks to hit back on the scoreboard in the 35th minute when centre Zintle Mpupha gathered and made the most of the scattered defence to score a fine solo try.
Libbie Janse van Rensburg nailed the conversion to level the scores but the South Africans seemed to be still celebrating after the restart because the Fijians bounced straight back with a try through flimsy defence, with right wing Akanisi Sokoiwasa going over.
There was a let-off for the Boks ten minutes into the second half when Fiji had a second try disallowed. The stout hooker Vika Matarugu had barged over but a knock-on was detected in the build-up and it got even better for the South Africans when they went to the other end of the field and a series of forward rampages saw the burly No 8 Aseza Hele crash over under the crossbar.
Van Rensburg’s conversion tied matters up at 14-14 with a quarter of the match to go.
As the tension mounted, Cavuru missed a sitter at posts with five minutes to and with two minutes left it was Van Rensburg’s turn to seize the spoils with a close-range penalty, and she nailed it, but there was one last twist to come...
From the restart, Fiji won the ball in the air and swept to the Bok goal line where No 8 Karalaini Naisewa went over in the last second of the game.
Scorers
South Africa: Tries: Zintle Mpupha, Aseza Hele. Conversions: Libbie Janse van Rensburg (2). Penalty: Janse van Rensburg.
Fiji: Tries: Ilisapeci Delaiwau, Akanisi Sokoiwasa, Karalaini Naisewa. Conversions: Levania Cavuru (3)
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