South Africa won the Dubai leg of the World Sevens series after beating defending champions Fiji 26-14 in the Cup final.
Speaking afterwards, captain Philip Snyman said: “We just needed to stick to our game plan and structure and that’s exactly what the guys did. We never let Fiji into the game and then they were playing catch-up rugby, which I think worked to our advantage.
“We can be positive going into our home tournament next weekend in Cape Town, but we need to start all over again and fix a few things that went wrong. We need to recover well over the next few days.”
The Blitzboks, who impressed over the two days, scored early tries from Cecil Afrika and Branco du Preez to put them into an early lead, however Fijian captain Osea Kolinisau fired back to make it 14-7 at half-time.
Straight from the restart Jerry Tuwai touched down under the posts, with the conversion levelling matters at 14-14, but shortly afterwards HSBC player of the final Chris Dry edged South Africa ahead.
That score gave his team the momentum and it was a final try from Seabelo Senatla that sealed the match, bringing his tally to a remarkable 11 tries for the tournament.
Day Two: Results:
Cup Final
Fiji 14-26 South Africa
Third place play-off
England 38-10 Wales
Plate Final
Australia 12-19 Scotland
Bowl Final
Samoa 14-28 USA
Shield Final
Canada 20-17 Uganda
Cup semi-finals
Fiji 31-12 EnglandWales 36-5 South Africa
Plate semi-finals
France 17-26 ScotlandAustralia 20-12 New Zealand
Bowl semi-finals
Argentina 10-12 SamoaKenya 19-21 USA
Shield semi-finals
Japan 19-26 UgandaCanada 27-5 Russia
Quarter-finals
Fiji 40-5 FranceEngland 24-21 ScotlandAustralia 12-21 WalesSouth Africa 40-0 New Zealand
Challenge Trophy quarter-finals
Argentina 31-14 JapanSamoa 27-19 UgandaKenya 22-14 CanadaUSA 40-0 Russia
Meanwhile, England and Wales faced off in the battle for bronze in Dubai. Speedster Dan Norton scored four tries while Richard de Carpentier and Charlie Hayter also got on the scoreboard to complete both a 33-10 win and a good weekend for the England.
Australia finished the day in fifth place while USA raised the men’s Challenge Trophy with a 28-14 win over Samoa, with Perry Baker’s beautiful first half chip-and-chase try raising the noise even further at 7he Sevens Stadium on Saturday.
World Rugby has announced the pools for the second round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Cape Town next weekend.
The draw for the HSBC Cape Town Sevens was made before the Cup final at the opening round of the series in Dubai,
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Dubai winners South Africa are drawn in Pool A with Australia, USA and Russia.
Olympic champions Fiji, who suffered defeat to the Blitzboks in Dubai, head up Pool B with France, Kenya and Japan.
After an impressive performance in round one, Simon Amor’s England head-up a tough Pool C which also features New Zealand, Argentina and Canada.
Pool D contains Wales, Scotland, Samoa and invitational team Uganda.