Home side roll the dice for big win in Las Vegas Sevens
After four failed attempts, USA have finally snapped their grand final drought, smashing Samoa 27-0 to claim the Las Vegas Sevens.
The World Series Sevens leaders had reached the final in every tour leg in 2018-19, but had fallen short on all four occasions in the final.
But there was no stopping the North Americans on their home soil, as they defended their title to seal their maiden tour victory of the campaign.
USA scored five tries, with Ben Pinkleman scoring a brace, while shutting out the Samoans.
The home side reached the final after speedster Carlin Isles scored after the full time whistle to beat New Zealand 24-19 in the semifinal to complete his hat-trick.
Sione Molia and Kurt Baker scored first-half tries to put New Zealand 12-0 up as they dominated the opening five minutes of the semifinal.
However Clark Laidlaw's side trailed 14-12 at the break when Folau Niua and then Isles scored late in the half.
A second Isles try after halftime extend the USA's lead before New Zealand captain Tim Mikkelson levelled the scores at 19-19 with four minutes remaining following a classy lineout move.
The USA controlled possession for the closing stages as New Zealand were consistently penalised. The hosts turned down penalty chances in the final minute near the posts before Isles completed a hat-trick after the hooter.
New Zealand beat Argentina 26-19 to win the bronze medal.
“If we’re going to win one of them, the one at home was the one we always wanted,” USA captain Madison Hughes said.
“It feels so good, particularly having missed out on it last year — I was up in the box — and now to be out on the field, it feels pretty good.
“I’m so proud of them. I think that final really showed that the first day didn’t go how we wanted it to, but just the quarter-final, semifinal, final, just such good buy in. I mean me and Steve Tomasin last year we were watching, so for both of us it feels pretty amazing to be out here now.”
USA (98) lead New Zealand (93) by five points, Fiji are third on 84, England’s (68) fifth place finish saw them pass South Africa (67) by a point, while Australia are 11 points outside the top four on 57.