Hougie stars for Blitzbokke in Dubai plate final

Speedster Francois Hougaard scored the decisive sudden death try in extra time to end South Africa's campaign on a high note.

The Blitzboks trailed 14-0 at the break, and looked set to go down until a late charge proved the undoing of the Australians.

Early in the second period, Western Province captain Juan de Jongh looked set to score before he had the ball dislodged from his grasp with the tryline begging.

But the South Africans were unperturbed and Kwagga Smith crossed the whitewash soon afterwards to bring his side back into the contest.

Australia's Allan Fa'alava'au was also sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle on De Jongh, but the Blitzboks were unable to capatalise on their one-man advantage.

The Australians camped on the SA tryline right until the end but conceded a late penalty, which saw the Blitzboks counter up-field.

Cheslin Kolbe went over after a concerted period of attack before smartly off-loading to Smith who was able to score under the posts and leave Justin Geduld with an easy conversion to force the game into extra-time.

The first team to score in extra time would win and by now the momentum was with the Blitzboks, who launched an attack from inside their own half before Hougaard rounded off in spectacular fashion in the corner to break Australian hearts.

Earlier on Saturday, the Blitzboks lost 21-19 to the USA in the Cup quarter-finals, before beating Argentina 26-5 in the Plate semi-finals.

The South Africans will now set their sights on their home tournament in Cape Town next weekend.

Scorers:

South Africa

Tries: Kwagga Smith (2), Francois Hougaard

Conversions: Justin Geduld (2)

Australia

Tries: S. Meyers, E. Jenkins

Conversions: L. Holland (2)

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Image credit - Gallo Images