Selvyn Davids pulled the strings as defending champions South Africa beat Argentina 12-7 in a thumping encounter to claim their fifth straight Emirates Dubai 7s title and kick off their HSBC SVNS 2024 campaign in emphatic style.
Impi Visser had already crossed for the Blitzboks when Shilton van Wyk, player of the final in 2022, went over in the fifth minute to take the score to 12-0.
Argentina’s Matias Osadczuk cut the deficit to five points early in the second half, after Ryan Oosthuizen was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle.
Rosko Specman came within inches of a spectacular score, but lost the ball – and ploughed into a steward – in the corner, as South Africa held off the Argentinian fightback.
The South African fans will be hoping they can go back to back in Cape Town this weekend.
South Africa's acting head coach Philip Snyman hailed his squad's, "amazing performances throughout the weekend".
Winning difficult matches is a defining characteristic of champions – and South Africa set up a shot at a fifth straight title with a high-intensity 14-7 win over Fiji in the last four.
Meanwhile, the Australian Women’s 7s side claimed their 4th straight Dubai 7s Women’s title after defeating New Zealand 26-19 in the final.
Teagan Levi scored a double, while Bienne Terita and Maddison Levi scored a try each.
Jorja Miller scored a hattrick for the Black Ferns.
Looking at other results, France thumped Canada 26-5 in the third-place playoff, and the Fijiana defeated Ireland 24-19 in the fifth-place playoff.
Source : world rugby
