South Africa captured their second Emirates Airline Dubai title in three years with a well-deserved and hard-fought 19-12 victory over England at the new home of the Arabian Gulf Rugby Union, called ‘The
Sevensâ€. SA also won in Dubai in 2003.
Promising youngster Robert Ebersohn opened the scoring for SA, his fifth of the weekend in the desert city. Stick converted to make it 7-0.
Mpho Mbiyozo then forced his way over with a few second left on the clock before halftime to stretch the SA lead to 12-0.
Tom Biggs scored for England shortly after the break to give the English hope at 12-5. Paul Delport was then yellow-carded and England immediately took full advantage with a try by Micky Young, who also converted to draw the teams level.
With only 20 seconds to go on the stadium clock, speedster Gio Aplon switched on the speed, taking him effortlessly past the stretched English defence.
Aplon passed the ball to Benjamin in the goal area, who touched down with a huge dive and a massive smile on his face.
The South Africans kicked cleverly and competed superbly at the breakdown, forcing several vital turnovers for the speedy backs.
Earlier, South Africa qualified for the final thanks to a brilliant display of kicking by captain Mzwandile Stick, who first slotted a difficult conversation on the stroke of full-time to force their semifinal into sudden-death again Fiji. One minute later he landed a sensational long-range drop-goal to secure 10-7 win for the Springbok Sevens.
The popular World Series moves to George next week where the Springbok Sevens will attempt to capture their first home title. – Sapa