Argentina knocked South Africa out of the Olympic Rugby Sevens this afternoon with a stunning 19-14 win, finishing the game with just FIVE men.
Los Pumas saw Gaston Revol sent off during the first-half for a high tackle, before Lautaro Bazan Velez was sin-binned in the closing stages.
Velez was brandished a yellow card for a deliberate knockdown.
At that point, South Africa were five points behind and looked as if they were all but set to touch down and win the game from the jaws of defeat.
But that was something that they could not achieve.
Argentina would hold from the relentless pressure that they were subjected to, turning the ball over to kick into touch. Cue wild celebrations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r64stsva-zA
The result means that there will be at least one new medalist at this year’s Olympics following South Africa’s exit from the competition in the last-eight.
The South Africans came into the Olympic Games without their Head Coach Neil Powell who tested positive for Covid-19 prior to its start.
But they did take the lead against the Argentinians with Selvyn Davis handing them a 7-0 lead.
That lead was wiped out however, as the underdogs, with a man down, scoring three unanswered tries to take a 19-7 lead.
But the South Africans would hit back, and they cut the lead to five points with just under 30 seconds to play.
But they could not find a winner late on as Argentina incredibly held out with just five-men.
“Argentina came and forced their will and style of play on us, and we allowed it to happen,” South African Siviwe Soyizwapi said.
“Our heads are down at the moment — we have let ourselves down. We made silly mistakes. We did not keep our standards.”
Argentina will now take on Fiji in the last four, and if they manage to keep their full complement of player on the pitch this time, they have more than a chance…
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