South Africa pull off Dubai Sevens rugby double, as Fiji fail to make quarter finals for only second time in world series history
- JC Pretorius bags late winners in semi-final and final as Blitzboks win fourth tournament in a row
- South Africa became the first team to win three successive Dubai titles since New Zealand in 2002
JC Pretorius scored in the final minute as South Africa achieved a Dubai double in an unbeaten start to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series after edging Australia 10-7 in this weekend’s final.
The South Africans have won four tournaments in a row – the two in September that constituted the shortened 2021 series, and the two Dubai Sevens opening the 2022 series over the last two weekends, making up for the cancelled South Africa Sevens.
They extended their team-record match-winning streak to 24 after being pushed to the brink in the semi-finals and final.
Pretorius scored the clinching tries in both. In the last four clash with France, at 12-12 with seconds to go, Pretorius took an angled run and slipped out of the tackle of Ethan Dumortier and skipped away to the line. South Africa won 19-12 with the conversion.
Saturday’s final was even tighter. Siviwe Soyizwapi went over for South Africa in the first minute, and Corey Toole replied in the fifth for Australia to lead 7-5 at half-time. With two minutes to go, Pretorius took ruck ball and beat Ben Dowling with a step off his right foot to break through and score.
“We came into this tournament only with 11 players. A lot of guys thought we’re only here to survive but we came here to thrive,” Pretorius said.