New Zealand extended their World Series lead after winning the final of the Adelaide Sevens on Sunday.
The Hong Kong Sevens champions beat two-time Adelaide winners South Africa 28-20 in the final at the Adelaide Oval after leading 14-10 at half-time.
New Zealand’s victory increased their World Series lead to 13 points over England with two legs to play in London on May 21-22 and Edinburgh a week later.
It was New Zealand’s first tournament win in Adelaide at their fifth attempt after South Africa had won in Australia in 2008-2009.
Man-of-the-tournament Tomasi Cama scored two tries and kicked four conversions to propel New Zealand to their third victory of the season, along with last weekend’s win over England in Hong Kong.
New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens paid tribute to Cama’s contribution to the Kiwis’ Sevens breakthrough in Australia.
“There’s some special players in this team, and I thought Tomasi Cama was simply outstanding in the final,” he said.
“It could have gone either way for a while. South Africa were very quick and dangerous.”
Tietjens was happy to add another achievement to his impressive coaching resume: “We’ve never won in Adelaide so it’s real special for us,” he said.
New Zealand skipper DJ Forbes was delighted before leading the haka on the Adelaide Oval for the first time.
“Coming off a big win in Hong Kong (last weekend) we really wanted to front up,” he said.
“To come here, put in a big performance and guts it out is definitely a proud moment.”
Wales upset Argentina 14-7 to claim the second-division Plate final, USA toppled Kenya 17-10 to win the Bowl and Japan beat Tonga 22-5 to claim the Shield.
Results
Cup
Quarter-finals
New Zealand 47 bt Argentina 7
Samoa 19 bt Australia 14
South Africa 24 bt Fiji 12
England 17 bt Wales 12
Semifinals
New Zealand 33 bt Samoa 17
South Africa 19 bt England 0
Final
New Zealand 28 bt South Africa 20
Plate
Semifinals
Argentina 31 bt Australia 28
Wales 22 bt Fiji 21
Final
Wales 14 Argentina 7
Bowl
Quarter-finals
Kenya 26 bt Papua New Guinea 17
France 21 bt Tonga 17
USA 22 bt Japan 19
Scotland 28 bt Cook Islands 0
Semifinals
Kenya 24 bt France 10
USA 29 bt Scotland 19
Final
USA 17 bt Kenya 10
Shield
Semifinals
Tonga 24 bt PNG 19
Japan 31 bt Cook Islands 21
Final
Japan 22 bt Tonga 5
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