South Africa beat New Zealand to win Dubai Sevens

South Africa ended a run of three defeats against New Zealand to win a seventh Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens title.

South Africa lead the standings after the first of ten events in a season that culminates in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan with 22 points, ahead of New Zealand and bronze medallists England.

The first cup final meeting between the two nations since South Africa triumphed 24-12 in the desert back in 2017, looked to be heading for a scoreless first half after Chris Dry knocked on in the act of scoring and then Zain Davids was held up over the line. However, from the resulting scrum, and with only two seconds showing on the clock, South Africa swung the ball quickly left to create just enough space for Captain Siviwe Soyizwapi to go over in the corner to earn some reward for the long spells they had spent in the All Blacks Sevens 22.

The teams now move onto Cape Town for round two of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 next weekend, where Fiji are the defending champions after beating USA in the final last year. Fiji finished ninth in Dubai, their lowest ever placing there in series history.