South Africa withstood a late surge by Australia to win gold in the sevens final at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Apia, Samoa, on Friday.
Both sides advanced to the final undefeated, but the young South Africans prevailed 31-20 victors to secure their first gold medal at the games after losing in the 2011 final against the same opposition.
South Africa made the better start and led 24-5 at the break, courtesy of tries by captain Heino Bezuidenhout, Embrose Papier and Francois Agenbag.
Australia fought back strongly at the resumption, scoring 15 unanswered points to move within four of South Africa’s tally with three minutes left on the clock. But any hopes of a complete turnaround was ended when Agenbag skipped through the Aussie defence for his second converted try to seal gold for Team South Africa.
