Wellington - South Africa lost the New Zealand Sevens Plate-final 26-22 after leading 17-0 at one stage against a youthful Australian team in Wellington earlier today.

It was also the second successive time that Australia got the better of the defending IRB Sevens World Series champions in a Plate-final.

Fiji clinched the 2010 NZI Sevens title after winning a stunning final of breathless intensity 19-14 against South Sea Island rivals Samoa.

In doing so, they also cut New Zealand's lead in the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series to just four points.

New Zealand leads the standings on 64 points, followed by Fiji (60) and Samoa (46), while South Africa occupies seventh place (24).

South Africa lost their quarter-final match 21-5 against Fiji, the third consecutive time that Fiji had beaten the Springbok Sevens at this stage of a Series tournament this season.

The Springbok Sevens then bounced back with a much better performance in the Plate semi-final, beating off a spirited Canadian challenge 29-5.

Three tries in the first half gave South Africa a seemingly healthy lead of 17-0 against Australia.

Chase Minnaar, Mzwandile Stick and Ryno Benjamin all scored after forcing Australia into errors. James Stannard scored just before the break to cut the SA lead to 17-7, but after halftime it was all Australia as they forced the Series-holders into several mistakes.

Bernard Foley and Kimami Situati scored converted tries to give their team 21-17 lead, but South Africa raced back in determined fashion and was rewarded with a slender lead of 22-21 after Stick had scored his second try of the match.

The match ended in dramatic fashion when Clinton Sills ran in to score the winning try after he had timed a kick to perfection to outpace the chasing effort of Benjamin to make the final score 26-22.

Paul Treu, the SA Sevens coach, bemoaned his teams’ lack of finishing on the second day. “We dominated territory against New Zealand on Friday night, and today against Fiji and Australia, but we somehow failed to turn those gains into points.

“We also missed some tackles in the Plate-final, which allowed Australia to slip back into the game after we had such a good start.

However, the positive thing is that we managed to give newcomers like Hoffman Maritz and Steven Hunt valuable game time.

“We will continue to work hard and now have another chance in Las Vegas next week to improve on our recent performances,” said Treu.
Las Vegas hosts its first Series tournament next weekend.