Cape Town Sevens: NZ edge BlitzBoks in Cup Final
DAY THREE WRAP: New Zealand edged South Africa 7-5 in the final of the Cape Town leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday.
The All Blacks' captain Scott Curry praised his team for rising to a "massive challenge" as they avenged a defeat by the BlitzBoks in the final of the series opener in Dubai last week.
"It doesn't get much better than that – playing South Africa at [their] home in front of 50 000 fans roaring their national anthem."
Neither team could score in a tense first half but the hosts went ahead two minutes after the break with a try by Justin Geduld.
New Zealand, who were beaten 15-0 in last week's final, breached South Africa's ferocious defence three minutes later when man of the match Ngarohi McGarvey-Black scored under the posts.
Akuila Rokolisoa's conversion proved the difference between the teams, who are now tied at the top of the series log after two tournaments.
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South Africa had to overcome early deficits in their earlier knock-out matches against Kenya and France.
In both cases they were level at half-time before pulling away in the second half.
They beat Kenya 17-5 in a hard, physical quarter-inal before defeating France 21-14 in the semifinals.
New Zealand had an easier time and were able to ease off in the closing minutes of both their knock-out matches on the way to the final.
They beat Ireland 35-19 after leading 21-0 at half-time and then beat 2018 Cape Town champions Fiji 24-7 in the semifinals.
The result was never in doubt after the All Blacks scored the first three tries, one of them while Fiji were down to five men because of two yellow cards.
France pipped the Pacific Islanders for third place, winning 29-24 in extra time.
*The New Zealand women's side overcame a scare in the quarterfinals before securing their second successive tournament win, beating Australia 17-7 in the final.
Two tries by Ruby Tui and one by Kelly Brazier enabled the Black Ferns to beat a spirited Australia team, who scored through Ellia Green.
England led New Zealand 21-7 with four minutes to go in the quarterfinals but the champions fought back to take the match into sudden-death extra time before substitute Mahina Paul scored the winning try.
"We didn't start the tournament how we wanted but we finished exactly as we wanted to," said captain Tyla Nathan-Wong.
Day Three Results:
Cup Final:
South Africa 5-7 New Zealand
Bronze Final:
France 29-24 Fiji
Ninth place play-off:
USA 17-12 England
Eleventh place play-off:
Australia 5-22 Canada
Thirteenth place play-off:
Samoa 38-7 Spain
Fifteenth place play-off:
Wales 15-19 Japan
Cup semifinals:
South Africa 21-14 France
Fiji 7-24 New Zealand
Cup quarterfinals:
South Africa 17-5 Kenya
France 19-10 Argentina
Ireland 12-31 Fiji
New Zealand 35-19 Scotland
Women
Final
New Zealand 17-7 Australia
Bronze final
Canada 22-17 France(after extra time)
Semifinals
Australia 24-19 France
New Zealand 15-5 Canada
Quarterfinals
France 31-0 Russia
Australia 38-7 Fiji
Canada 15-16 United States
New Zealand 26-21 England (after extra time)
Ninth place play-off
Spain 19-7 South Africa 7
11th place play-off
Ireland 26-7 Brazil
Main photo: @Blitzboks