South Africa started the day with a win over New Zealand, before getting past England. This left them with a pool decider against Australia, where tries by Zain Davids and a brace by Selvyn Davids in the first half opened up a 19-0 lead at the break from which the men from Down Under could not recover.

Australia did score first in the second half, but a four try, by Siviwe Soyizwapi, again extended the lead and although the Aussies pulled two tries back, it was too late to overhaul the South Africans, who improved on attack as the tournament progressed.

The win against England seemed laboured at times. South Africa’s leading try-scorer on the first day, Kurt-Lee Arendse, got a hat-trick, with Soyizwapi getting the fourth try.

Arendse and Soyizwapi scored in the first half, with two conversions by Selvyn Davids handing the team a 14-0 lead at the break.

That was extended to 19 points with Arendse getting a second, before England showed some intent on attack with a long range try. Arendse raced away from the restart though to confirm a perfect start for South Africa.

In their opening encounter against New Zealand, an early try by Arendse set the tone of the South African attack. Stedman Gans created some space with a good inside pass and Arendse raced away from 50 meters out.

In a tight match, with defences on both sides very strong, tries were always going to be few and far-between, and New Zealand's Regan Ware's converted try on the halftime hooter was the only other points of the opening half.

A nice show and go by Branco du Preez saw the playmaker dotting down and converting his own try to restore the seven point lead. That was cut down to two points soon after when New Zealand got one back.

South Africa finished stronger though and a try by Dewald Human extended the lead and confirmed the slight dominance of his team.

Scorers:

v Australia - Tries: Zain Davids, Selvyn Davids (2), Siviwe Soyizwapi. Conversions: Selvyn Davids (3).

v England - Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse (3), Siviwe Soyizwapi. Conversions: Selvyn Davids (2).

v New Zealand - Tries: Dewald Human, Branco du Preez, Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversions: Branco du Preez (2).

Semi-final fixtures on Sunday 22 September:

11h44: South Africa v Germany

12h06: New Zealand v Fiji