South Africa’s thrilling win over Fiji in Perth sevens final ends nine-year drought

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.

“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.

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.

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