First-time winners Scotland celebrates

London: Scotland beat South Africa 27-26 in the final of the London Sevens, to win their first ever World Rugby Sevens Series title.

Scotland scored two tries in the final minute to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and ensure that their first-ever Cup final appearance on the World Rugby Sevens Sevens Series ended in celebration, breaking South African hearts in the process with a 27-26 victory. The Scots, who had earlier beaten hosts England and defending London Sevens champions USA to reach the final, looked out of it after Rosko Specman raced away to score his second try to put South Africa 26-15 ahead, but then came the remarkable finish.

First they created space for Dougie Fife to score in the final minute to keep their hopes alive and then managed to win the restart, keeping their composure with good work from James Fleming and captain Scott Wight before Fife saw his change, rounding the defence to spark the celebrations.

Scotland had edged a tight first half 10-7 after tries from Jamie Farndale and Wight, the latter coming from the unusual sight of a driving maul, but tries in quick succession from Speckman and Cecil Afrika looked to have swung the final in South Africa’s favour. James Fleming and Specman then traded tries, but few in the Twickenham crowd knew what an exciting finish they were in for.

“I’m ecstatic, it hasn’t really sunk in at the moment,” admitted Wight, who revealed Scotland had had photos of recent Cup winners Kenya and Samoa on the wall all week as motivation. Scotland’s win means there have been six different winners in 10 rounds this season with series champions Fiji and New Zealand winning three each and South Africa, Kenya, and Samoa also one. World Rugby