The semi-final will kick-off at 09h14 on Sunday morning (SA time), with Fiji and New Zealand contesting the other top-four play-off (08h52).

South Africa had a patchy start in their first pool clash against Spain, losing possession after a couple of phases near the Spanish line. The Europeans counter-attacked and scored a lung busting try 100m upfield on the other side of the field to take a 7-0 lead.

The Blitzboks’ handling in the opening stanza was not up to scratch and they coughed up a couple of balls, handing the momentum to Spain.

Credit to the South Africans though, who kept plugging away despite the unfamiliar error rate. Donavan Don, who was in touching distance of the try line in the opening attack, got it right the second time and scored from a good Tristan Leyds pass.

Zander Reynders then scored his first try of the tournament after Spain fluffed a lineout and he came around the corner from a Leyds pass to extend the lead to 14-7.

From the restart, Spain lost the ball in contact, Ricardo Duarttee kicked ahead, Leyds picked up and fed Shilton van Wyk – who looked dangerous on attack and added eight tackles to his efforts – to finish. Duarttee made it three conversions out of three and at the break, it was 21-7 to South Africa.

Spain scored the only try of the second half, which was almost a repeat of their first half opener. The Blitzboks attacked well and looked set to score, but they turned over possession from a stray pass and the Spanish outworked SA on the outside to cross the tryline.

The rest of the half promised much, but delivered less. The Blitzboks hung onto their seven-point buffer, with Luan Giliomee coming off the bench for a first appearance in the Blitzbok jersey.

In their second game against Great Britain, some jitters on attack continued to hamper the Blitzboks, who held a 14-12 lead at the break. They broke those shackles in the second half though, with some clinical play resulting in three unanswered tries.

Don again opened the scoring for his side against GB. Duarttee broke blind from a scrum and once the ball was recycled to the open side again, the Velddrift flyer scored in the corner. Duarttee brought his kicking boots on this trip and converted from out wide for a 7-0 lead.

However, it was gremlin time again from the restart and a couple of errors cost the SA side dearly. GB opened their scoring with a long distance try, thanks to good supporting play that stretched the Blitzboks’ defence to breaking point.

The try was not converted, but GB took the lead shortly after as Don overtracked on defence and South Africa ran out of defenders. The conversion was good and suddenly the Britons were 12-7 up.

They fluffed the restart though and paid dearly. Duarttee took the customary tapped penalty and then kicked deep, where a flying Leyds caught the flat GB defence cold. He scored under the poles, and the conversion handed the Blitzboks a two-point lead at the break.

It was a more measured and effective effort in the second half. Van Wyk scored four minutes from time to extend the lead to a more comfortable margin, stepping inside two GB defenders. More was to follow, with Ryan Oosthuizen dotting down in the corner for his 49^th career try, with both Siviwe Soyizwapi and Giliomee doing good work in the lead-up to the Blitzboks’ fourth try.

As the clock ran into the red, Sebastiaan Jobb, red-carded in a corresponding match last year, redeemed himself with a well-taken try to push the lead and winning score to 33-12.

A try in extra time handed the Blitzboks their first defeat in two tournaments, with Fiji winning the final game of the day by 24-19 to top the pool.

South Africa scored first when Leyds rounded an opponent on the outside following some constructive attacking play. Duarttee converted for a 7-0 lead.

From the restart, Leyds turned from finisher to provider with a lovely kick finding Don, who raced away to score. Duarttee's conversion made it a 14-0 lead with less than a minute to play in the half.

A lovely Fiji offload freed Terio Veilawa and they scored under the sticks for a converted try to make it 14-7 at the break, and they scored first in the second half as well to level the scores.

Grobbelaar scored in the corner from the tap penalty to hand the lead back to South Africa with four minutes to play.

David Brits was penalised from the restart and could feel hard done by for his aerial commitment. Fiji capitalised and scored in the corner to draw level again with two minutes to play.

Another yellow, this time to Don, left South Africa with five players. They held out though, with some desperate defence and when the scores were tied after normal time, the winner was decided by golden point in extra time.

Scorers:

South Africa 21 (21), Spain 14 (7)
SA – Tries: Donavan Don, Zander Reynders, Shilton van Wyk. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (3).
Spain – Tries: Anton Legorburu Anso, Francisco Cosculluela. Conversions: Cosculluela (2).

South Africa 33 (14), Great Britain 12 (12)
SA – Tries: Donavan Don, Tristan Leyds, Shilton van Wyk, Ryan Oosthuizen, Sebastiaan Jobb. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (3), Leyds.
GB – Tries: Joshua Radcliffe, Matt Davidson. Conversion: Tom Burton.

South Africa 19 (14), Fiji 24 (7)
SA – Tries: Tristan Leyds, Donavan Don, Christie Grobbelaar. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (2)
Fiji – Tries: Terio Veilawa (2), Jeremaia Matana, Nacani Boginisoko. Conversions: Veilawa (2).