South Africa beat Olympic champions Fiji at Dubai Sevens
Saturday 3 December 2016 18:01, UK
South Africa claimed a shock victory in the Dubai Sevens as they beat Olympic champions Fiji 26-14 in the final.
As well as Olympic champions, Fiji were also the defending champions from last season's Dubai Sevens series and were tipped to win again.
Early tries from Cecil Afrika and Branco du Preez put the Blitzboks into a commanding 14-0 lead before Fiji captain Osea Kolinisau struck back to leave it 14-7 at the break.
Fiji started the second period in similar vain scoring immediately into the half through Jerry Tuwai, with the successful conversion leaving the scores level at 14-14.
South Africa responded quickly, however, and wrestled momentum back through man-of-the-match Chris Dry, whose score changed the face of the game.
Seabelo Senatla then registered his 11th try for the Boks in the tournament, with his score ensuring that Fiji could not respond, clinching victory.
"We just needed to stick to our gameplan and structure and that's exactly what the guys did," said South Africa captain Philip Snyman.
"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."
Elsewhere in the tournament, England clinched bronze as they defeated Wales 33-10 in a convincing victory. Dan Norton scored four tries for England, while Richard de Carpentier and Charlie Hayter also notched scores.
Australia finished in fifth place, while the USA won the Challenge Trophy with a 28-14 win over Samoa.
The World Rugby Sevens Series now moves to Cape Town where the Boks will start as series leaders following their performances in Dubai.
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