— Cape Town Sunday, the Springbok Women’s Sevens team lost to China in the Challenge Cup for 13th place in the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
The SA Women fell to France 29-0 in their tournament opener on Friday night, and to Japan 14-12 in the Challenge quarterfinal on Day Two.
Paul Delport’s squad snapped their tournament winless streak with a 27-0 victory over Colombia to advance to the Challenge 13th place play-off against China. Despite a close contest, the South Africans were unable to secure the victory.
The South Africans scored first after Eloise Webb took a graceful move to cross the try line, but after that it was nearly all China.
The red team’s support play was crucial to their ability to keep the ball alive and capitalize on opportunities.
China scored two excellent tries to lead 14-5 at the break, and they had a strong start to the second half, but a turnover allowed South Africa to score their second try when Zintle Mpupha broke through and booted the ball forward. The conversion by Nadine Roos made it a two-point game.
However, China scored once more, this time on a converted try by Sun Yue, although they lost a player when Yang Danxu was sent to the sin bin.
The home team utilized their numerical advantage to score a try by Marlize de Bruin, but it was only a consolation as they lost the game 21-19.
Point scorers:
South Africa 19 — Eloise Webb, Zintle Mpupha, and Marlize de Bruin tries; Nadine Roos conversions (2)
China 21 — Attempts by Chen Keyi, Zhao Ying, and Sun Yue; conversions by Keyi (3)