South Africa clinch Dubai leg of Men's World Rugby Sevens Series

A brilliant first half performance helped South Africa to beat Ireland 21-5 in the final to claim the Dubai leg of the Men's World Rugby Sevens Series.

Player of the match, Shilton van Wyk side-stepped his way through the Ireland defensive line and sped away to score within 20 seconds of the first whistle and then added another before a Siviwe Soyizwapi intercept left Ireland with it all to do.

With Ricardo James Duarttee kicking all the three conversions right, South Africa went into the break with a 21-0 lead.

Ireland's only response in the game was Jack Kelly's try that came at the start of the second half as they had to settle for a silver.

“I am very proud of the boys, I think the camp coming into this one was different and we really stuck together as a group and today and the weekend has shown how much we have fought for each other,” said Blitzboks captain Soyizwapi.

Earlier, South Africa defeated Samoa 24-19 in the quarter-finals and followed it with a 26-19 win over New Zealand in the semis to reach the final of the competition while Ireland had close wins over Argentina and USA.

Akuila Rokolisoa took his try tally for the tournament to six as New Zealand bagged the bronze medal and 17 precious World Series points with victory over the USA.

Marcus Tupuola scored first for the USA but other than a brilliant, blind offload from Malacchi Esdale, which led to an eighth-minute try for Ben Broselle, it was all New Zealand.

Caleb Tangitau was first on the board for the All Blacks Sevens before star man Rokolisoa got his brace. Brady Rush and Amanaki Nicole underlined New Zealand’s superiority with two further tries.

Overall Standings:

The win means South Africa have moved to the top of the table with 32 points while the winner of Hong Kong 7s Australia are at second place and is followed by France, Ireland and Fiji in the third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.