South Africa didn’t give up and tried continually to break the England defence when they had possession but England proved too strong.  Mathew Tait made a great break before the end of the first half and crossed the line, although the crowd had to wait for the Television Match Official to confirm the score.

Just before the break, Antonius Verhoeven of South Africa was sin binned leaving England ahead 26-0 at the break and with a one player advantage for the second half.

Andy Vilk scored his hat trick soon into the second half and with a successful conversion from Gollings, England were heading into safety and securing their place in the final.  One final try for Ben Gollings meant that the final score was 38-0 and England are through to the final. 

England face Fiji in the final at 5.45pm local (1.45am GMT).

Scorers:
England – Tries: Strettle, Vilk (3), Tait, Gollings
Conversions: Gollings (4)

England:
Luke Narraway (Gloucester), Ben Gollings, Andy Vilk (Northampton Saints),
Dave Seymour (Saracens), Henry Paul (Gloucester) Captain, Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons), David Strettle (Rotherham)
Replacements: Danny Care (Leeds Tykes), Nils Mordt (London Irish), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons)
Replacements not used: Will Matthews (Gloucester), Dan Luger.

South Africa:
From Stefan Basson, Fabian Jures, Mzwandile Stick, Gio Aplon, Ryan Kankowski, Antonius Verhoeven, Tobeia Mdaka, Zolani Mofu, Jonathan Mokuena, Renfred Dazel, Phillip Burger, Schalk van der Merwe

Referee: Kevin Rowe (NZ)

Ends. 

Earlier, England beat Argentina to reach the semi final.

England 19
Argentina 15

It was another close encounter between England and Argentina in the quarter finals of the LA Sevens today, but once again England came out on top and are through to the semi final stages.  England had to fight hard for their win though with three tries a piece meaning that Ben Golling’s successful conversions proved crucial.

Argentina went ahead first with a try from Nicholas Bruzzone (but failed to convert) and some rather frantic play followed with penalties being awarded to both sides.  David Strettle (Rotherham) finally managed to score England’s try which was successfully converted by Ben Gollings.

The Pumas were strong in defence and once again England remained patient with Mathew Tait finally breaking through to score his first try of the match.

Francisco Bosch came back for the Argentineans just before half time (but again, they failed to convert) which meant the scores were a nail biting 12-10 to England at the break.

Argentina went into the lead early in the second half but again failed to convert offering England a hope of coming back. A great run by Tait looked promising but he was stopped from reaching the line.

Some more thrilling play between the two sides saw England urgently trying to score near to the posts and it was Tait who managed to successfully outmaneuver the strong Argentinean defence to score under the posts.   Gollings once again successfully converted taking the score to 19-15.

Danny Care came on for Mathew Tait, and England looked like scoring again when Strettle broke for the line only to be taken into touch just inches from the try line.

With just seconds on the clock it looked as if the Pumas would come back when they were awarded a penalty just yards from their line but the hooter went sending England through to the semi finals stages and the Pumas out of the Cup competition.

Scorers:
England: Tries – Tait (2), Strettle
Conversions – Gollings (2)

Argentina: Tries – F. Bosch, M. Bosch, Bruzzone

England:
Luke Narraway (Gloucester), Ben Gollings, Andy Vilk (Northampton Saints),
Dave Seymour (Saracens), Henry Paul (Gloucester) Captain, Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons), David Strettle (Rotherham)
Replacements: Danny Care (Leeds Tykes)
Replacements not used: Will Matthews (Gloucester), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons), Dan Luger, Nils Mordt (London Irish),

Argentina:
From Francisco Bosch,  Marcelo Bosch, Nicolas Bruzzone, Nicholas Fernandez Lobbe, Tomas de Vedia, Juan Ignacio Gauthier, Pablo Gomez Coa, Santiago Gomez Cora, Francisco Merello, Nicolas Vergallo, Horacio Agulla, Juan Facundo Barni

Referee: Brett Bowden (Aus)

Ends.