Cape Town - The Blitzbok's hopes of a third consecutive HSBC Sevens World Series final came to an end after they suffered a 12-7 defeat to hosts Australia in the semi-finals of the Sydney Sevens.
READ: New Zealand plays Sevens - with 8 men!
Australia opened the scoring early through a converted try by Lewis Hollard and extended their lead with a try by James Stanard right after the first half hooter had sounded.
A Blitzbok comeback seemed underway after Kwagga Smith took a quick tap penalty and beat two defenders to score a converted try in the right-hand corner early in the second half.
That, however, was the final score of the match with Australia prepared to run down the clock and the Blitzboks making too many unforced errors.
Losing Smith to the sin-bin for a high tackle for the final two minutes of the game didn't help the South African cause either.
The Blitzboks now face Fiji in the Bronze final (09h35 SA time) while Australia are up against New Zealand for the Sydney Sevens title.
New Zealand are under investigation for allegedly having 8 players on the field in their pool match against Australia during the final match of day 1.