Dubai Sevens – United States shock New Zealand

The other quarter-finals will see defending world champions Fiji take on Australia while England tackle Argentina.

New Zealand surged ahead with Joe Webber going under the posts.

Australia had a big half-time lead against the Blitzbokke, before the South Africans hit back in the second to bring scores level.

A frustrating 21-5 loss to England, their first in five World Series match-ups between the country, relegated them to runner-up in their pool.

In the main cup grand final, Fiji scored all of their points in the first half after falling behind to an early Tom Bowen try for England.

Earlier, Fiji beat Australia 19-12 in the quarter-finals, and New Zealand 19-5 in the semi-finals respectively.

“However, I was proud of our last performance against New Zealand…”

South Africa had to settle for the Plate crown after beating Australia 19-14 in sudden death extra time of the Plate final.

They had the least trouble of the three unbeaten teams but Fiji were impressive in two of their games and Russian Federation were playing an exciting brand of Sevens that could beat any side.

Fiji now leads the HSBC World Sevens series points table with 22 points.

“We’re not where we want to be, that’s for sure, but the World Series is tough and brutal”.

The Blitzboks were only truly tested against Scotland in Pool B, a brace from six-try winger Seabelo Senatla helping the reigning champions to prevail 26-12.

Coach Ben Ryan said winning the series again was less of a priority than winning the Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in nine months, but taking the Dubai title meant they will try to keep the roll on.

“We haven’t fully revealed our hand as yet. We created opportunities but our support play was a little off which made the difference”.

The Aussie Pearls, third on the ladder in 2014-15, breezed through their three pool matches (with Ellia Green getting a hat-trick against Japan), and finishing with a convincing win over England 24-7.

Friday, U.S. wing Perry Baker, who played two years with the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League before converting to rugby, tied the game at 12, before Madison Hughes converted the two-point dropkick to seal the victory.

They might want to ask him a few more practical tips ahead of their meeting with South Africa, the defending Dubai champions.