The Blitzboks hung on to claim a hard-fought 12-5 victory over Argentina in the cup quarter-finals of the Dubai Sevens on Saturday.

Neil Powell’s side will play Samoa, who beat Australia, in the second semi-final which kicks off at 1:22pm. New Zealand take on England in the first semi-final.

The game was certainly tighter than what Powell would have wanted as his side had secondary possession for much of the match. A high penalty rate will also concern the Springbok Sevens coach as they were perhaps fortunate to avoid losing a man to the sin bin at some stage in the match.

Still, the team deserves credit for hanging in and forcing the Argentinians to work for every metre, while also capitalising on the small amount of ball that they did have.

It was a dream start for the Bitzboks as Justin Geduld put the finishing touches on an attack he started inside his own half for a 5-0 lead.

While Argentina fought back, they found themselves back under their posts when Ryan Oosthuizen won a turnover penalty and Rosko Specman subsequently sprinted from inside the Blitzboks’ 22 for the second try, putting them 12-0 up at the break.

Argentina finally broke the South African defence at the start of the second half, taking the ball through multiple phases before Matias Osadczuk forced his way over the line to set up a tense finish.

While Argentina had a chance to force extra time with a penalty after the hooter, Dylan Sage managed to win a turnover to allow the Blitzboks to kick the ball out and take the win.

Photo: @Blitzboks/Twitter