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NZ Sevens teams claim both men's and women's titles in Cape Town in emphatic finals

December 16, 2019

New Zealand have made a clean sweep of this year's Cape Town Sevens event with both the Black Ferns Sevens and All Blacks Sevens winning the men's and women's tournaments overnight.

The Black Ferns Sevens were the first to claim a title in the inaugural women's tournament in Cape Town, beating Australia convincingly 17-7 thanks to a double from World Rugby sevens player of the year Ruby Tui.

Tui sealed the match in the final minutes when she fended off an Australian defender on the left wing and sprinted 60 metres down the sideline to score her second try.

The Black Ferns Sevens took a difficult road to get to the final, managing to take down England 26-21 in the quarter-finals at the start of the second day before beating Canada 15-5 in the semi-finals.

Captain Tyla Nathan-Wong said after the final whistle the title means plenty to the team.

"To be here in Cape Town for the very first time... it's just amazing," Nathan-Wong said.

"I'm getting emotional just thinking about it - ever since we touched down in this country, the people have just been so welcoming for us and done so much for this team."

The All Blacks Sevens faced just as challenging a path, beating Scotland 35-19 in their quarter-final before taking down long-time rivals Fiji 24-7 to set up a final with hosts South Africa.

The men's final was a titanic struggle with neither side managing to score in the first half but, backed by a 50,000-strong crowd, the Blitzbokke finally broke the deadlock two minutes into the second half with a try to Justin Geduld.

The South African defence looked to keep the All Blacks Sevens scoreless for a second-straight final but Ngarohi McGarvey-Black denied both that and the title when he cut back inside his defender to score under the posts and give New Zealand a 7-5 lead with two minutes left.

The score would stay that way until the final whistle, sealing a sweep for the New Zealand sides in South Africa.

The Black Ferns Sevens win sees them go top of the standings after three events, six points clear of Australia while the All Blacks Sevens are first equal with South Africa after two events in the men's circuit.

The two teams will hope to ride the momentum into their competitions which coincidentally happens to be on home soil when the World Rugby Sevens Series arrives in Hamilton next month.

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