HSBC Sevens World Series - South Africa Sevens

Kiwis take consecutive HSBC Sevens World Series titles

New Zealand Sevens star Lote Raikabula was crucial in their South Africa Sevens success

Photo: Getty Images

New Zealand continued their dominant start to the 2009/10 HSBC Sevens World Series by picking up the South Africa Sevens title, and adding it to the Dubai Sevens trophy they won the previous week.

This marks a turnaround for a side which failed to take a single title last term as Gordon Tietjens’ side defeated Fiji 21-12 in the cup final.

Applying their physical style over the two days, the Kiwis edged past England and Kenya in the quarter and semi-finals respectively, before tries from captain DJ Forbes, Ben Souness and Save Tokula proved enough to overhaul the Pacific Islanders in the final.

In taking maximum points from the opening two events, New Zealand have matched last year’s series winners South Africa, who lost to England in the plate final.

Tietjens said his side had exceeded his expectations and praised the key performers.

“Certainly a big change from last year, not winning a single tournament,” said Tietjens. “I was wondering when it was going to be, but to turn around and win Dubai and then South Africa here was way above my expectations and I've got to take my hat off to the guys,” he said.

“My four senior players really led from the front and were outstanding for the younger guys. DJ Forbes, Lote Raikabula, Tomasi Cama and Zar Lawrence, they are the cornerstones of this team at the moment."

William Ryder scored seven tries as Fiji made the final, defeating the hosts and Argentina in the knockout stages.

This means that the Kiwis have taken a maximum 48 points to head the HSBC Sevens World Series standings, followed by Fiji (36 points) in second and England (28 points) in third.

England in South Africa

England's Christian Wade brings down Kiwi dangerman Sherwin Stowers during the South Africa Sevens

Photo: Getty Images

Christian Wade scored a joint-highest seven tries in the tournament as England defeated South Africa 21-7 to take the plate title.

And England coach Ben Ryan is satisfied with England’s start to the series.

He said: “We've played 12 games and won 10 of them in the past two weeks, unfortunately at fairly crucial stages, we lost fairly and squarely against New Zealand and also against Samoa, so we've still got work to do but we're moving forward. I was really proud of all of my players.”

Ben Gollings – HSBC Sevens World Series all-time record points scorer – was again at his consistent best, coming second in the points totals with 55 points for the tournament and scoring five tries.

Bristol’s Dan Norton bagged four tries for the second tournament running, to boost England as they look ahead to New Zealand in early February.