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Wellington - Debutant Declan O'Donnell scored three tries as New Zealand came from behind to beat England 29-14 in Saturday's final of the Wellington Sevens rugby tournament.
England went ahead 7-0 in the second minute when Fijian-born British Army solider Isoa Damu crossed, but New Zealand piled on the pressure, mainly through tight defense, to score five straight tries and clinch a comfortable win.
The tournament victory took New Zealand level with England on 64 points after three of eight rounds of the World Series. The next round of the Series is at Las Vegas on Feb. 12 and 13.
New Zealand was the dominant team at its home tournament, clearing its pool with ease and progessing comfortably through Saturday's knockout rounds, beating Wales 26-5 in the quarterfinals and Australia 17-0 in the semis.
England, in contrast, was hard-pressed in almost all of its matches at the two-day, 16-team tournament. They needed a last minute try to beat the unranked Cook Islands in pool play and labored to a 14-7 win over Argentina in the quarterfinals and a 7-5 win over world champions Samoa in the semis.
Samoa had earlier ousted defending Wellington Sevens champions Fiji 12-5 in the quarterfinals.
England was seen to have more pace than New Zealand in the showdown between the top two teams in the World Series but New Zealand's defense quickly shut down the English speedsters and its robust style allowed it to dominate possession.
Damu scored a try from a tapped penalty in the second minute, exploiting the only lapse in concentration from the home side's defense. New Zealand quickly recovered and established its dominance, scoring tries through Toby Arnold and O'Donnell to lead 12-7 by halftime.
Veteran Tomasi Cama scored and converted his own try in the first minute of the second half to extend New Zealand's lead to 19-7, then O'Donnell scored back-to-back tries to make its advantage unassailable at 29-7.
England managed a consolation try in stoppage time.
"He's outstanding. He had an outstanding tournament," New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens said of O'Donnell who was playing in his first World Series tournament and final.
New Zealand lost captain D.J. Forbes to injury when it was still behind on the scoreboard but rallied in his absence to reclaim its home title.
"We lost D.J. early which could have been a major played but the guys went out and played for him," Tietjens said. "We got up from that setback, picked the game up and didn't look back."
Fiji won the plate competition, beating South Africa 26-12 in the final and Kenya won the bowl, beating Tonga 19-0.
