New Zealand clinch Hamilton 7s title for first time
New Zealand 7s celebrating their win in Hamilton
©World Rugby
France 7s 5 - 27 New Zealand 7s
Scott Curry scored a hat-trick as New Zealand 7s went on to register a 5-27 win in the final against France to win the Hamilton leg of the Men's World Rugby Sevens Series.
This was also New Zealand's 10th time at home but first in Hamilton with the previous victories coming in Wellington. France started the game with a setback as Tavite Veredamu was sin-binned and Curry made full use of the advantage with the opening try in the second minute.
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black followed with the conversion but Fiji responded back with Veredamu returning strong from the sin bin to dot down before Regan Ware went over the line just before the break to give New Zealand a 5-12 lead at the end of the first half.
Ware extended New Zealand's lead with a try in the second half while Curry added two more tries to ensure a 22 point victory for New Zealand, who were also aided by Jonathan Laugel's yellow card.
“The French have that flair and they’re a team on the rise, they’re playing extremely well. We haven’t gone that well the last couple of years so we felt like we owed it to the crowd and to our families here to go well this tournament," said All Blacks Sevens co-captain Tim Mikkelson.
“Everything we do we do it for each other, it doesn’t matter if you start or come off the bench, you’ve got a role to play. The boys are just keen to work for each other. To play in front of our families is something special and to do that in front of our families and to win it is even better."
New Zealand topped Pool 1 with three straight wins and defeated Australia 17-14 in the semi-final while France defeated England 5-10 in their semi-final game to make it to the top two. Australia settled for Bronze as they defeated England 21-33 in the battle for third place.
Overall Standings:
This is New Zealand's second title win in the ongoing World Rugby sevens Series after clinching Cape Town 7s as they occupy the top place with 63 points and are followed by South Africa and France with 48 points each.
