South Africa qualified for the sevens quarter-finals at the Commonwealth Games after a convincing win against Tonga in Birmingham on Friday.

The South Africans led 17-5 at the break after a good first-half performance, two tries by Christie Grobbelaar and one by skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi putting the men in green and gold in control, while Tonga hit back with a five-pointer on the stroke of half time.

JC Pretorius and Sako Makata added tries in the first three minutes of the second half to stretch SA’s lead to 29-5, but they then lost Mfundo Ndhlovu to a dangerous tackle by Tonga’s John Ika, who was red carded.

After Ndhlovu was stretchered off the field, Dewald Human had the final say with a try, which he converted himself to seal the deal for Neil Powell’s men.

Earlier, Angelo Davids scored a hat-trick as the Blitzboks ran in eight unanswered tries in a 46-0 win over Malaysia.

SA face undefeated Scotland on Saturday (1:18pm) to decide the winners of pool B.

ICYMI – Blitzboks blank Malaysia in Games opener

Photo: @Blitzboks/Twitter