Ireland shock S.africa in Rugby World Cup Sevens

Cape town: Ireland stunned hosts South Africa with a convincing 24-14 win in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup Sevens at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

“Beating South Africa on their home patch -- it does not get much bigger than this,” said Irish captain Billy Dardis.

Ireland silenced a big home crowd with a solid performance against the Blitzboks.

“We said we wanted to kill the party a bit,” Dardis told Supersport TV.

Ireland took advantage of early South African errors to score first through Mark Roche, but Muller du Plessis scored to put South Africa level at 7-7 at half-time.

Ireland took control ater the break with tries by Harry Mcnulty and two by Jordan Conroy before Mfundo Ndhlovu scored a late try for the hosts.

Ireland will meet tournament favourites and title-holders New Zealand in the semi-finals on Sunday. New Zealand survived a tough quarterfinal batle against Argentina, winning 12-5.

Rain made conditions tricky and Argentina were first to score through German Schulz.

But veteran forward Scot Curry scored a converted try for the All Blacks to give them a 7-5 half-time lead. A long-range solo try by Moses Leo in the second half setled the contest.

“As soon as the rain started coming down it got prety slippery,” Curry said.

New Zealand won the last two World Cups in 2013 and 2018 and came into Cape Town ater winning the final event of the World Series in Los Angeles.

HARD-FOUGHT AUSTRALIAN WIN: on the other side of the draw, newly-crowned World Series champions Australia beat France 14-5 in a hard-fought match.

France had the beter of the first half before Australia seized on a handling error for Henry Paterson to open the scoring ater the half-time hooter. Paulin Riva scored for France ater the break before Maurice Longbotom crossed the line for Australia.

In the semi-finals, Australia will meet Fiji, who beat Samoa 21-10 with tries by Jerry Tuwai, Kaminieli Rasaku and Sevuloni Mocenacagi ater Samoa had opened the scoring through Steve onosai, who added a late consolation try.

New Zealand and Australia had convincing wins in the women’s quarter-finals. New Zealand beat Ireland 28-0 and Australia defeated England 35-5.