Kiwis get their revenge

GEORGE – New Zealand pounced on numerous errors by the South Africans to take the George title of the IRB World Sevens series when they downed the hosts 24-17 in the final here Saturday.

It was a repeat of last weekend’s final when the South Africans got the better of the All Blacks in Dubai and represented sweet revenge for Gordon Tietjens’ side. Once again South Africa failed to win their home competition after cruising through the competition when they won all their games.They made it to the final after downing England 10-7, while New Zealand beat Fiji 29-12 in the semi-finals.It was far from a classic final encounter between the two best teams in the competition with handling errors and poor tackling scuppering the chances of the hosts.None of the home team’s strike runners, like Kabamba Floors, Stefan Basson, Philip Burger or Danwel Demas were allowed space or time to put any pressure on their opponents, while the New Zealanders enjoyed majority of possession and won the battle at the breakdowns.While a second-half try by Schalk van der Merwe narrowed the gap and gave the big home crowd a glimmer of hope of back to back wins, New Zealand held on for the victory and their first title of the new season.Portugal were the surprise winners of the Plate competition when they defeated Zimbabwe 14-12 in a close final, while Australia got the better of Kenya 41-7 in the Bowl final.Wales, who held England to a 14-all draw on day one of the competition, took the Plate competition after defeating the surprise package of the tournament, Tunisia, 26-5 in the final.There were again a number of upsets on the final day, with Kenya’s 19-17 win over Argentina the most significant, while they also downed Scotland 15-10 earlier in the day.Scotland also lost 19-26 to Zimbabwe.Nampa-AFPOnce again South Africa failed to win their home competition after cruising through the competition when they won all their games.They made it to the final after downing England 10-7, while New Zealand beat Fiji 29-12 in the semi-finals.It was far from a classic final encounter between the two best teams in the competition with handling errors and poor tackling scuppering the chances of the hosts.None of the home team’s strike runners, like Kabamba Floors, Stefan Basson, Philip Burger or Danwel Demas were allowed space or time to put any pressure on their opponents, while the New Zealanders enjoyed majority of possession and won the battle at the breakdowns.While a second-half try by Schalk van der Merwe narrowed the gap and gave the big home crowd a glimmer of hope of back to back wins, New Zealand held on for the victory and their first title of the new season.Portugal were the surprise winners of the Plate competition when they defeated Zimbabwe 14-12 in a close final, while Australia got the better of Kenya 41-7 in the Bowl final.Wales, who held England to a 14-all draw on day one of the competition, took the Plate competition after defeating the surprise package of the tournament, Tunisia, 26-5 in the final.There were again a number of upsets on the final day, with Kenya’s 19-17 win over Argentina the most significant, while they also downed Scotland 15-10 earlier in the day.Scotland also lost 19-26 to Zimbabwe.Nampa-AFP