Hong Kong continues to be an unhappy hunting ground for the Blitzbokke, going down 26-14 to England in their Bowl semi-final match.
Earlier, Paul Treu’s men beat Spain 28-14 in their quarterfinal clash to set up a meeting with England.
For South Africa its now back to the drawing board to prepare for their next tournament in Tokyo next weekend.
Frankie Horne, the SA captain, said the team was very disappointed with their overall Hong Kong performance.
“Apart from Wales, we failed to impose ourselves in the pool matches and came up against a very motivated England team who had the crowd behind them. Although the results hurt, we will have to move on, learn from our mistakes and pick ourselves up to play much better next week in Japan,” said Horne.
Against England, South Africa raced to a 14-0 lead in the first half after tries by Justin Geduld and Branco du Preez. But Marcus Watson scored a crucial try for England on the stroke of halftime, and during the second half it was England who set the pace, controlled the breakdown and eventually converting their chances.
Mike Ellery and Rob Vickerman each scored a try that allowed the English to pull away from the Springbok Sevens. Watson, a constant danger on the wing with his burst of speed, scored his second try just before the end to seal their victory and passage to the Bowl final against Hong Kong.
Cornal Hendricks, subdued for most part of the tournament, scored a hat trick of tries against Spain to boost his season tally to 28 in six tournaments. Philip Snyman was the other SA try scorer, while Justin Geduld added three conversions.
Meanwhile, in the Cup, Fiji beat Wales in a thriller to retain their Hong Kong title.
Fiji defended their title in the most dramatic fashion, coming back from a 19-0 half time deficit to beat first-time finalists Wales and claim a famous 26-19 victory.
Osea Kolinisau came on as a second half substitute for the Fijians and changed the game with two quick tries. He then added a third late on to seal a remarkable win.
Key results:
Cup – Wales 19 – 26 Fiji
Third Place – Kenya 5 – 36 New Zealand
Plate – Canada 7 – 12 Samoa
Bowl – Hong Kong 7 – 42 England
Shield – Argentina 14 – 19 France
New Zealand stretch their Series lead going to 113 points, 25 more than Fiji in second place (88). Samoa move up to third (84), South Africa fall to fourth (78) and Kenya climb to fifth (72).
Pools for Tokyo confirmed …
The Tokyo Sevens takes place at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Ground on 30-31 March.
Pool A: Fiji, Portugal, South Africa and Spain.
Pool B: Wales, Hong Kong, Kenya, USA and Scotland.
Pool C: New Zealand, Japan, Canada and France.
Pool D: Australia, Samoa, England and Argentina.
