Argentina wrap Series league win

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Argentina produced a second-half comeback to beat the Blitzboks in the fifth-place playoff at the Singapore Sevens and claim the Series league title on Sunday.

Having trailed the Blitzboks 10-0 at half-time, Argentina scored two converted tries to win 14-10 and seal first place on the overall Sevens Series standings.

According to the new structure of the 2023-24 season, Los Pumas will be crowned as the league winners, but the Series title will still go down to the winner-takes-all final tournament in Madrid from 31 May-2 June, which will involve the Blitzboks.

Finishing sixth in Singapore, the Blitzboks took 12 points from the tournament, their second-best finish of the season.

Coming into the game with nothing to lose after a quarter-final defeat, the Springbok Sevens flew into an early lead when Dylan Sage found Tiaan Pretorius out wide with a wonderfully floated pass.

Siviwe Soyizwapi went over a couple of minutes later to give the Blitzboks a handy 10-point lead at the break.

However, after South Africa wasted an excellent opportunity from a lineout near Argentina’s tryline in the second half, Los Pumas went upfield to get themselves on the board with a try under the posts.

Argentina piled the pressure onto South Africa’s breakdown and it paid dividends when Tobias Wade scored a self-converted try from a turnover near the tryline, giving Los Pumas the lead with seconds to play.

The game went into overtime as the Blitzboks tried to snatch a victory, but Argentina won another breakdown turnover to seal a fifth-place finish in Singapore and first on the overall standings.

Photo: Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images

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