Dramatic Don try puts 6-man Blitzboks into final

The Springbok Sevens side produced one of their most amazing performances, as Donovan Don scored a try in the last minute to give them a gutsy 12-10 win over Fiji in the semifinals of the Vancouver Sevens.

What made it more amazing was that they had played almost the entire match with six players against the South Sea Sevens magicians and came out on top of a game that they were expected to lose, all in the most dramatic fashion.

With time ticking down, and six-man Blitzboks down to attacking in their own half, Tristan Leyds looked as if he was out of options, stabbing through a grubber for a chasing Selvyn Davids. The bounce eluded Davids and half the Fijian team, but stood up for Don, who grubbered it through, collected and scored close to the posts for a crucial last minute score.

Davids put over the conversion to steal the game for the Blitzboks, runing out the shot clock to ensure there was no kick off afterwards.

The game tilted heavily in Fiji’s favour when an early collision between Joji Nasova and Sebastian Jobb was deemed illegal due to a clash of heads, earning Jobb a red card in the process.

Nasova, who had broken free after the tackle, ran the length of the field to score, leaving Fiji 5-0 up and a man to the good after the incident.

However Nasova was to join Jobb on the sidelines shortly afterwards as he lifted Shilton van Wyk in a tackle and dumped him on his back, earning him a yellow in the process.

While the Blitzboks couldn’t capitalise on it, it was Van Wyk who scored in the second half to even up matters before Jeremaia Matana broke free to give Fiji the lead with only a few minutes to go.

When Leyds was forced out in the corner with less than three to go, it seemed as if the odds may have been against the Blitzboks until the Hail Mary paid off for the brave South Africans and Don stole the moment for himself.

The Blitzboks will now face defending champions Argentina in the final, after they won a tough semifinal against tournament surprise Spain 7-0 in their semifnal.

Argentina will be looking for their fourth straight Vancouver title in the final, which kicks off at 3.05am (CAT, GMT+2) on Sunday morning.