Samoa stunned New Zealand to claim victory in the Las Vegas Sevens with a thrilling 26-19 win in the Cup final.
England bow out in Plate semi-final to Argentina
Samoa stunned New Zealand to claim victory in the Las Vegas Sevens with a thrilling 26-19 win in the Cup final.
Overall leaders New Zealand had won the previous two HSBC Sevens World Series events and looked on course for another when they wiped out a two-try deficit, but a heroic last-gasp try from Alafoti Faosiliva sealed the upset.
Earlier, Faosiliva picked up a loose ball and crashed over from close range to give Samoa the lead but the defending World Series champions hit back through Charles Piutau.
Paul Perez then capitalised on an errant New Zealand pass to score under the posts for Samoa and Faatoina Autagavaia gave them a 14-point cushion at the start of the second half.
A solo effort from Tomasi Cama halved the deficit before Ardie Savea's try under the posts tied the scores, but Faosiliva bundled his way over with time expired to give Samoa the win.
Elsewhere, England lost out in the semi-finals of the Plate competition after paying the price for a poor start as they slumped to a 21-19 defeat to Argentina.
Tries
Tries from Nicolas Bruzzone and Agustin Migliore put Los Pumas 14-0 up but a wonderful solo score from Dan Norton halved the deficit just before the interval.
In the second half Argentina struck first through Migliore again and although England scored two more tries courtesy of Tom Mitchell and Chris Cracknell, a missed conversion from Marcus Watson proved costly.
In the other Plate semi-final, Wales were eliminated from contention when they suffered a 24-14 defeat to eventual winners Kenya.
A try from Migliore gave Argentina an early lead in the Plate final but Kenya took control from thereon, with Sidney Ashioya, Humphrey Kayange and David Ambunya all running in tries to make it 21-7 by the end.
Scotland reached the Shield final but could not come away with the win as they were handily beaten 22-7 by France.
Graham Fisken grabbed Scotland's only try of the game, while Mathieu Acebes, Manoel Dall Igna and Jean-Pascal Barraque all crossed for France.
There was late drama in the Bowl final as Sean Duke scored in the final second to give Canada a 19-17 victory over Australia.
