HSBC SVNS: South Africa beat Spain to men's World Championship title in LA

South Africa beat Spain to the men's HSBC World Championship crown in the season-ending event at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles.

Such is the competitive nature of elite sevens rugby, it is worth noting the Blitzboks were ninth in the previous tournament in the Series, in Singapore.

Selvyn Davids was named HSBC Player of the Match in no small part as a result of his try from deep to break the deadlock.

Spain's captain Pol Pla brought his team to within two points with a fine try but Mfundo Ndhlovu extended South Africa's advantage when he gathered an awkward bouncing ball around his shins, slalomed through the Spain defence and ran off to score.

Spain were handed a lifeline when Zander Reynders was sin binned for the final two mins of the game for tackling his opponent while he was in the air.

But South Africa did not panic. Siviwe Soyizwapi won a turnover with a jackal against the odds and that spirit was replicated when Ricardo Duarttee scored for the six men in the dying seconds for a 19-5 final score.

"The team never stopped believing," said Blitzboks head coach Philip Snyman. "They played five phenomenal games and were unstoppable. This team can go places. I am very proud of them."

3rd PLACE PLAY-OFF

New Zealand secured their first podium finish of the season with a 38-17 success against Argentina.

They responded to Tobias Wade’s try for Argentina by running in four first-half tries thanks to a Ngarohi McGarvey-Black brace and singles by Sofai Maka and Akuila Rokolisoa, who slid in with an outstretched arm to score.

Rob Rush went off for two minutes for a high tackle on Luciano Gonzalez and was soon followed by Maka for a late challenge and while down to five men Argentina got it back to within seven points through Marcos Moneta and Lautaro Bazan Velez.

With their numbers restored, New Zealand attacked and made sure of the bronze when Brady Rush's footwork and pace produced a try and McGarvey-Black got his hat-trick.

SEMI-FINALS

Spain underlined their improving status in world rugby sevens by beating Argentina, the League champions for the past two years, in their semi-final by 29 points to five.

Los Leones withstood intense pressure before their captain Pla got away from Marcos Moneta to score in the corner. Matters worsened for Los Pumas when Santiago Mare was shown a red card for crashing his shoulder into the face of Eduardo Lopez, who dusted himself down to make it 10-0 as they made their numerical advantage count.

Alejandro Laforga had two minutes cooling his heels on the touchline for a less dangerous challenge than Mare's, and when big Luciano Gonzalez went over to halve the deficit it seemed possible that Argentina could yet turn it around.

Instead, Spain hit them three times before the hooter sounded. Francisco Cosculluela assessed his options in midfield and backed himself to score a solo try and two tries by Tobias Sainz-Trapaga sparked celebrations among the Spanish coaching squad on the touchline as they ended a 19-game losing streak against their mighty opponents. 

South Africa seized the chance to play Spain in the showpiece match with a 26-5 win over New Zealand.

The Blitzboks never looked back after Shilton van Wyk twice crossed the try line and Quewin Nortje added another for a 21-0 lead at the break.

Nortje had to sacrifice half his green jersey as it was ripped from his torso when he collected a quote sensational crossfield kick by Ronald Brown and fought his way over to score before Frank Vaenuku registered a score for New Zealand.

5th PLACE PLAY-OFF

Australia missed out on a place in the semi-finals on the tightest possible points difference but they were well beaten by free-flowing France.

Their veteran anchor Paulin Riva recovered from a thump on the ribs on Saturday to drive his team on and set up Enahemo Artaud for the opener.

Liam Delamare and Yerim Fall combined for the latter to go over before the slippery Artaud shimmied through for a 21-0 lead.

France were making it look easy, none more so than Varian Pasquet who simply never looks flustered. He sidestepped Henry Paterson to jog over, and the smiling 30-year-old Stephen Parez-Edo Martin rounded off a good move before Maurice Longbottom's consolation for Australia as Les Bleus went down 33-7.

7th PLACE PLAY-OFF

Great Britain took seventh place with only their third win over Fiji in the HSBC SVNS. Matt Davidson set the tone early with a score in the corner and tries by Charlton Kerr, skipper Harry Glover and another from Kerr following a sweet grubber kick by Freddie Roddick had them out at 26-7 by half-time.

Tony Roques' men turned on the style when Morgan Williams collected Davidson's crossfield kick and set up Sunni Jardine to cross over the line. Fiji, two-time tournament winners this season, snapped to life and scored through Terio Veilawa and Isikeli Basiyalo for a 31-19 full-time score.

It might have been Glover's final match. "I've loved my 10 years of playing rugby," he said. "I have to have a think about what I'm doing next.

"We've been fighting it out with the best teams in the world and coming out on the wrong side too many times. I am just happy that we capped it off with a nice win."

PLAY-OFF COMPETITION

USA and Uruguay competed in the HSBC SVNS Series all season but by finishing in the bottom four they were forced into the LA play-offs against the top teams from the Challenger Series. They topped their pools and so will play in Division 2 in the revamped set-up next season. Also heading to Division 2 are Kenya, who were too strong for Canada in their decider, winning 24-5, and Germany who beat Samoa 31-0.

Kenya's Tony Omondi said: "We will go back, recover, put the structures in place to play Sevens 2 and look forward to going back to the top eight."