Ravaged NZ Sevens claim fourth

The New Zealand men’s side finished fourth at the Cape Town Sevens yesterday, after they were blasted off the park by a sharp United States outfit at the semifinal stage.

The Kiwis completed a disappointing final day on the latest stop of the new World Series season when beaten 10-5 by hosts South Africa in the bronze playoff.

The All Blacks Sevens started strongly against Zimbabwe 35-0 on day one, before Samoa edged the Kiwi side 21-17 in the last play of their second pool match. That set up a crucial clash against South Africa, where victory was needed to advance to the Cup playoffs.

A thrilling finish saw Sione Molia score with only seconds left on the clock to draw the scores level, before Vilimoni Koroi dotted down in the corner in added time to steal a 26-21 victory.

Amanaki Nicole then starred with a hat-trick in a 26-17 quarter-final win over Australia, before the All Blacks Sevens were undone 31-12 in the semifinals. The US jumped out to a 24-0 lead and held off an attempted second-half comeback.

Ravaged by injuries the past two weeks, New Zealand coach Clark Laidlaw said fourth was disappointing but there was also a lot to take out of the weekend.

“We are proud of what this team has done. We have 11 or 12 players unavailable at home but this group has done well,” said Laidlaw.

“To come from behind against South Africa in pool play in front of a 50,000-strong crowd was a huge occasion and we played really well against Australia but the US got on top of us.”

Fiji beat the US 29-15 in the final to win their first Cape Town Sevens title since 2005.

The All Blacks Sevens sit second on the World Series standings with 37 points, one behind the US.

The next World Series event is in Hamilton in January.