Aussies knock Blitzboks out of Perth Sevens tournament

An Aden Ekanayake try in overtime snatched victory for hosts Australia over the Blitzboks in the Perth Sevens cup semi-finals on Sunday.

With scores locked at 12-12 after 14 minutes of regulation time, the teenager crashed over in the right corner moments after Blitzbok veteran Ryan Oosthuizen saw yellow for a delibrate knock-on for the winner-takes-all touchdown at HBF Park.

The 17-12 defeat denied the South Africans a shot at redemption against defending champions Argentina – who beat the Blitzboks 19-10 in their Pool A clash on Saturday – in the final.

Third or fourth

Philip Snyman’s charges will now contest the third-place playoff at 12.35pm against surprise packages Spain, who were crushed 40-5 by the Argentines in their final-four clash.

Australia’s James Turner touched down out wide to open the scoring in the second minute, and Hayden Sargeant added the extras, but the Blitzboks hit back a minute later to restore parity with a converted Selvyn Davids touchdown.

Ronald Brown was denied an opportunity to cross the whitewash before half time by some brave defence from Jayden Blake for the Australians, who at the time were reduced to five men with Turner and Sargeant down in midfield.

A fleet-footed Davids made no mistake after the restart to put the South Africans in the lead for the first time, only for Sidney Harvey to dot down with just over a minute left to play and force the game into added time.

The Blitzboks, though, had their hearts in their throats as Maurice Longbottom pulled his ambitious penalty attempt at the death wide of the uprights.

This story first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission.