Dubai: Samoa overcame the might of New Zealand 26-15 in a thrilling end to the 2012 Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens late on Saturday.
It was the Pacific Islanders’ third attempt at a Dubai final in the HSBC Sevens World Series, having lost twice here at the Sevens Stadium in 2009 and 2010.
Two early Paul Perez tries gave the 2009/10 series champions a 12-0 advantage, Patrick Faapale completing one of the two conversions.
Ben Lam and DJ Forbes fought back for New Zealand before the interval, but a Lio Lolo try and another Faapale conversion took Samoa 19-10 ahead at half-time.
Kurt Baker got New Zealand’s deficit down to four shortly after, but Tulolo Tulolo put the Samoans back in control before Faapale made it an unassailable 11-point lead.
The Samoans started their tournament slowly, with a narrow 24-19 opening Pool C win over Portugal. They then lost to England 19-17 before a salvage job 10-5 win against South Africa qualified them as group leaders on points difference ahead of Portugal.
They beat Wales 19-7 in the quarter-finals on Saturday and truly asserted their authority with a 12-5 defeat of France in the semis.
New Zealand — the record ten-time series champions and five-time former Dubai winners — were on cruise control out of Pool B after beating Wales, Russia and Argentina with respective scores of 14-7, 31-14 and 17-7.
They were also unfazed in the quarters and semis, strolling to wins over Portugal (28-7) and Kenya (27-7).
The Kenyans, meanwhile, followed up on one of their best ever starts to a Sevens World Series — they finished fourth in round one on Australia’s Gold Coast last month — with victory in the third place play-off, beating France 15-12.
Unlike their male counterparts, the New Zealand ladies won the women’s final against South Africa as the first leg of the inaugural IRB Women’s World Series ended in a 41-0 thrashing of the Springboks.
It followed a mixed start to their campaign, where they beat China 31-0 in their opening pool match before drawing 12-12 against both Russia and last year’s Dubai event winners Canada.
A 31-0 quarter-final hammering of England set them back on their way, before a 28-14 semi-final triumph over rivals Australia booked their place in the final.
In the men’s plate final, Wales emerged victorious over Canada 21-14. The Welsh Dragons had finished second behind New Zealand in Pool B, but lost their quarter-final to the Samoans and had to work their way back into form with a shock 27-5 semi-final upset over Gold Coast winners Fiji.
Argentina won the bowl final against South Africa 14-10. After emerging from a difficult Pool B behind New Zealand and Wales, they got the better of England in the quarters 24-14 and eased past Scotland 12-5 in the semi-finals.
England, the Dubai champions for the past two years, beat Spain 26-5 to win the shield, but it was little consolation for the pre-tournament favourites. Descending from bowl territory after their loss to Argentina, the Red Roses salvaged some pride against Australia 40-12 in the semi-final, before avenging their Gold Coast bowl final defeat to the Spaniards.
