The Blitzboks and Argentina will square off Saturday morning for the top spot in Pool A at the Perth SVNS tournament in Australia.
Both sides are unbeaten after two wins on day one of the tournament, and a top seed will bring an easier quarter-final later on Saturday as they look to stay amongst the best teams in the series.
The Springbok Sevens completed wins on Friday as they beat Canada and Spain, scoring seven tries and conceding only three.
Early in the first match, they trumped Canada 24-7, with captain Selvyn Davids leading the charge.
Small margins
Against Spain, it was a bit of desperate defence right at the death that saved the team and secured the 21-14 win.
Newcomer Tristan Leyds made a good cover tackle when the Spanish were on the charge for a possible late try to square things up. Seconds before the strong tackle, Leyds conceded an offside penalty but fixed his error almost instantly with that important tackle.
Captain Davids scored the try that separated the two sides in the end, after forward Zain Davids copped an early yellow card when he knocked a pass down going for a tackle.
Spain scored the opener in the absence of Davids, but some good Blitzboks defence, coupled with a Ronald Brown try brought them right back into the game. Two minutes later South Africa took the lead via speedster Quewin Nortje after a loose ball was kicked through and followed up by newbie Masande Mtshali.
The Spanish did not relent and kept attacking until the final minutes, scoring a try shortly before the final whistle, and they kept attacking, but the Leyds tackle and a breakdown penalty sealed the win.
Rock-solid defence
Canada looked sharp early on, after conceding in the opening minutes via Davids, but some rock-solid defence kept the North American side at bay.
Davids' double score was not his only contribution as a kick-pass from the playmaker created some space for Nortje to score as well.
Leyds, who made his debut against the Canadians, came on and scored his first Bltizboks try within 30 seconds, and the former Stormers winger was swamped by his teammates as they congratulated him.
Centre David Brits, also on debut, had a solid outing against Canada in the first match with some good defence and strong carries.
South Africa faces the Argentineans at 6.38am on Saturday.