New Zealand defeated England 22-19 with the last kick of the match to win the South African leg of the IRB Sevens World Series at Outeniqua Park in George, South Africa on Saturday.
With the scores tied at 19-19 after the final hooter sounded and their team reduced to six men when Bryce Heem was yellow carded, New Zealand were awarded a penalty and Tomasi Cama calmly slotted the winning kick from close range.
It was New Zealand’s second win of the tournament against England, who won the first leg of the series in Dubai last week. The All Blacks triumphed 20-7 in a pool match on Friday.
England took a 14-0 lead in the final with tries by veteran Ben Gollings and James Rodwell.
New Zealand hit back shortly before half-time with a solo try by Declan O’Donnell. They went ahead with tries by captain DJ Forbes and the tall Tim Mikkelson before pacy replacement Mat Turner brought England level with a long-range try to set up a tense finale.
New Zealand cruised to a 26-0 win in their quarter-final against Argentina, but had to come from behind to beat Fiji 26-19 in the semifinals.
Fiji led 12-5 at half-time but New Zealand hit back to lead 19-12 before powerfully built Seremaia Burotu went over for his ninth try of the tournament to put Fiji level.
With the score tied at 19-19, Fiji had possession when the final hooter sounded but inexplicably kicked the ball downfield when an attack was blocked.
New Zealand, by contrast, held on to the ball and worked their way up the field before replacement Jackson Ormond crossed for the winning try.
Burotu finished as the leading try scorer in the western Cape town and was also named man of the tournament.
England beat hosts South Africa 19-10 in their quarter-final, scoring two tries in the last two minutes after trailing for most of the game.
In a repeat of last week’s Dubai final, they defeated Samoa 22-12 in the semifinals, dominating the second half after Samoa led 7-5 at half-time.
England stayed top of the overall standings on 44 points but New Zealand closed the gap to four points and the next leg of the series will be in Wellington on February 4 and 5.
For the second week in succession, South Africa won the Plate competition for teams beaten in the quarter-finals, defeating Argentina 10-5 in the final.
Scotland earned their first points of the campaign when they beat Russia 26-0 in the Bowl final while Zimbabwe edged Kenya 14-5 to lift the Shield.
Results
Cup
Quarter-finals
Samoa 19 Wales 14
England 19 South Africa 10
New Zealand 26 Argentina 0
Fiji 33 Australia 5
Semifinals
England 22 Samoa 12
New Zealand 26 Fiji 19
Final
New Zealand 22 England 19
Plate
Semifinals
South Africa 22 Wales 21
Argentina 14 Australia 12
Final
South Africa 10 Argentina 5
Bowl
Quarter-finals
Scotland 14 Namibia 5
Portugal 7 Kenya 5
Russia 25 Zimbabwe 7
France 19 USA 17
Semi-finals
Scotland 14 Portugal 10
Russia 34 France 0
Final
Scotland 26 Russia 0
Shield
Semifinals
Kenya 41 Namibia 0
Zimbabwe 19 USA 17
Final
Zimbabwe 14 Kenya 5
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