South Africa stun New Zealand as men’s Olympic sevens semi-finals set

The semi-final matchups for the men’s rugby sevens competition at the Paris Olympic Games are set after a series of famous knockout clashes at Stade de France on Thursday evening.

Either South Africa, France, Fiji or Australia will take out the gold medal on the world’s biggest sporting stage after overcoming some fierce opposition in their respective quarter-finals.

Playing in front of a vibrant crowd at the world-famous sports venue, South Africa were the first team to progress after shocking arch-rivals New Zealand 14-7 in a thriller.

Moses Leo scored New Zealand’s only try of the match after breaking through a Rosko Specman tackle attempt on the stroke of half-time. But South Africa had already done some damage on the scoreboard and were good enough to hang on.

South Africa had lost to New Zealand and Ireland in pool play, but after beating Japan by a comprehensive margin on day two, they moved on to the quarters as one of the best third-placed sides.

That gave them a chance.

It doesn’t get any easier for the men from The Rainbow Nation who will take on France for a shot at a guaranteed medal. Antoine Dupont’s team got the better of SVNS League Winners Argentina 26-14 in what was a rematch of the Series’ Championship Final in Madrid.

Whoever wins that semi-final will claim either a gold or silver medal, while the loser will be left to scrap it out for a bronze medal against either Fiji or Australia.

“We really wanted to make a clean and complete match, to play our game, which we haven’t done since the beginning of the tournament. I’m really proud of the team. When we struggle, it’s hard, but we did well tonight, France’s Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang said.

“Maybe we realised that we are playing the Olympic Games at home. Maybe we got back that hunger that we didn’t have on the first day. Argentina are a very physical team. We knew if we weren’t in the combat zone, we would not go through.

“I know we only won the quarter-final, but to play in a stadium like this. I never felt that in my life. To play in front of 69,000 people is something I could not imagine doing in my life.

“I know there is still a long way to go, but that moment gave us crazy emotions. I was almost in tears at the end. Thanks to the fans, I don’t have the words. Seeing 69,000 for a rugby sevens game, I think we destroyed the previous record by two or three times. I feel so honoured to be here.”

Fiji took on Ireland in the third quarter-final and managed to leave with a win. It was a tense match with the defending two-time Olympic gold medallists only winning by a slender four-point margin.

Ireland will once again be left to rue what could’ve been. After a consistent season on the SVNS Series, they came into the Paris Games with genuine belief of challenging for a medal, but they’ll have to wait another four years to potentially be in this position again.

Fiji will take on Australia, who might just be the form team of the competition at the moment.

The Aussies went through pool play with an unbeaten run of three wins from as many starts, which included a victory against Argentina. But they saved maybe their best performance for the quarters in an 18-nil demolition of Perry Baker’s USA.

Men’s semi-finals from 2:30 pm local time

Fiji vs Australia

South Africa vs France