PERTH, Australia (AP) — South Africa won the Australian stopover in the sevens world series for the first time in nine years after topping Fiji 21-19 in the Perth final on Sunday.
It took a phenomenal second try by Ryan Oosthuizen, who crashed past four Fijians, to tie the score at 19 that was then converted from the sideline by Ricardo Duarttee.
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“I’m not the fastest guy so sometimes I need to run over people,” Oosthuizen said.
New Zealand women won their third leg of four in the series, beating defending Perth champion Australia 29-7 in the 31-degree (C) heat and ending Australia’s 10-match home win streak.
South Africa pounced on two Fiji errors to blast off 14-0 in four minutes. Duarttee converted tries by Oosthuizen and Sebastiaan Jobb.
But Fiji has been the comeback king lately. It rallied from 12-0 down to beat France in the Singapore final last weekend, and beat South Africa from 14-0 down in pool play on Saturday.
Terio Veilawa was at the center of Fiji’s rally, setting up tries for Viwa Naduvalo and captain Jeremaia Matana to trail only 14-12 at halftime. Veilawa then claimed the second-half restart and broke two tackles on his own 22 line to score the go-ahead try, converted by Iowane Teba for 19-14.
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But South Africa regained the lead when Oosthuizen high-stepped to his second try and Duarttee slotted his second big sideline conversion.
The last five minutes were all defense. Nacani Boginisoko made a try-saving tackle near the right corner flag on South Africa’s Donovan Don, and Luan Giliomee pulled off a try-saver on Boginisoko on the halfway line.
South Africa last won in Australia in 2017 and is the first two-time men’s winner in the ongoing series.
In the season’s fourth women’s final of four between the neighbors, the Australians, after being smashed by New Zealand 36-7 in the Singapore final, scored first through Heidi Dennis, their youngest player at 20.
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But Jorja Miller, on her 22nd birthday, kickstarted New Zealand with a brilliant run. She slipped out of a double tackle near the right touchline in her half, tore away and threw off a third defender, and offloaded to send captain Risi Pouri-Lane over.
Kelsey Teneti then scored on both sides of halftime for a Perth-leading eight tries. Katelyn Vaha’akolo finished off another overlap, and New Zealand, which missed one tackle in the final, capped it in typical style: Stacey Waaka forced a desperation spill by Australia’s Maddison Levi near her tryline and Alena Saili snapped up the gift.
“After back-to-back tournaments, for the girls to show consistency and connection and still turn up even when it’s hot and you’re hurting, I’m really proud,” Pouri-Lane said.
The series resumes in Vancouver on March 7-8.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
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