Wales started the day with a disappointing 14-19 defeat to Canada before beating Portugal 26-21 which gave them an outside chance of making the Cup knock-out stages.
Wales’ chances were improved dramatically when Portugal shocked Canada 26-7 to leave the door ajar for Jevon Groves and his men.
Wales entered the final pool match against Commonwealth Games champions South Africa level pegging on points with Canada and Portugal but they had a healthy points difference in their favour.
Things looked rosier for Wales when Will Harries took full advantage of some skilful work by Lee Williams to score to put Wales 5-0 ahead. South Africa hit back through Werner Kok to score a converted try to lead 7-5 at the break.
Kwagga Smith put South Africa back in front midway through the second spell with a well worked try but Wales finished brightly but despite their best efforts, couldn’t get the vital breakthrough.
However Wales live to fight another day as they finished second in Pool D behind South Africa to earn a quarter-final showdown against Fiji.
“It’s not the way we would have liked to have made the Cup quarter-finals, but at least we are there,” said Wales Sevens head coach Gareth Williams.
“It means it will be a re-match of the quarter-finals from the Gold Coast. We can only focus on what we can do.
“Fiji have game breakers everywhere and are a dangerous side but the boys showed a lot of character today, especially against South Africa. We might tweak a few things but the response from the defeat against Canada where both sides were a bit sluggish, was excellent from the boys so hopefully we can regroup and give Fiji a run for their money.”
