The Blitzboks recovered from an extra-time defeat to Great Britain by beating Kenya 26-5 in Bordeaux on Friday night, with Shilton van Wyk and Quewin Nortje each crossing twice.
Van Wyk opened the scoring by backing his pace through a gap and added a second four minutes later to put the Blitzboks 14-0 up at the break. Nortje mirrored that approach in the second half — his first try a near-carbon copy of Van Wyk's opener, his second a composed finish that he converted himself after spotting he was unmarked in the corner and running the ball under the posts. Kenya's consolation came with the last play of the game.
The result sets up a pivotal clash with Fiji on Saturday at 11:06am, with the stakes clearly defined: should the Blitzboks lose to Fiji and Great Britain beat Kenya, South Africa could miss the quarterfinals and effectively end their World Championship title bid.
On the women's side, South Africa went down 42-0 to New Zealand, following an earlier loss to France. They face Argentina in their final pool game.