Against France, the South Africans just could not score the try they needed to draw level and they went down by 12-5, while against New Zealand, one unsuccessful conversion determined the 14-12 result.
On Saturday, the Blitzboks were edged by a ‘golden try’ by Fiji in extra time of their final pool game, which was indicative of the type of weekend for South Africa as they were on the wrong side of paper-thin margins, and paid the price for some erratic performances over the two days of play.
A slow start and some unforced errors resulted in the Blitzboks trailing 12-0 at halftime of their semi-final, but despite dominating the second half, they could not overhaul the French.
France scored first two minutes in when an inside pass to their captain, Paulin Riva, left him in open space and he ran in for a converted try and a 7-0 lead, before some slack defence from a lineout by the Blitzboks found them short on numbers, and the Europeans increased their lead to 12-0.
The French had a clear tactic on attack with back passes and that found a chink in the South African armour. To add to their woes, the Blitzboks played the half out with a yellow card to Ricardo Duarttee.
South Africa came out firing in the second half with Christie Grobbelaar scoring from a Siviwe Soyizwapi pass and the lead was cut to seven points, despite being a man down.
The rest of the half proved frustrating as several chances were not taken. They came desperately close when Duarttee lost the ball with the tryline in touching distance and although the Blitzboks refused to give up, it was not going to be the night for a consecutive tournament win.
South Africa suffered their third consecutive defeat, this time in the third-placed match against New Zealand, again with a successful conversion standing between the two sides. It was a proper rugby match, where both sides had the ball for long spells, but determined defence held sway.
New Zealand scored first when Kele Lasaqa stepped inside two South Africans to race away and the conversion handed them a 7-0 lead.
The Blitzboks kept the pressure up on attack and Tristan Leyds scored after selling a dummy to the NZ defence. The conversion went wide and at the break, two points separated the sides.
The second half was equally spellbinding, with both teams trying their best to score first, only to be stopped by determined defence.
The Blitzboks took the lead after a good try by Sebastiaan Jobb from a slick backline move before the wing finished well.
The conversion was good and their lead was 12-7, but with less than a minute to go, NZ speedster Michael Manson hacked ahead and outsprinted the cover defence to score. The conversion made it 14-12 and although the Blitzboks had one more go, NZ stood firm to secure third place.
Scorers:
South Africa 5 (0), France 12 (12)
SA – Try: Christie Grobbelaar.
France - Tries: Paulin Riva, Simon Desert. Conversion: Riva.
South Africa 12 (5), New Zealand 14 (7)
SA – Tries: Tristan Leyds, Sebastiaan Jobb. Conversion: Leyds.
NZ – Tries: Kele Lasaqa, Michael Manson. Conversions: Sofai Notoa-Tipo, Riley Williams.
