Kiwis double sevens champs – again

Co-captains with the gold. Photo: All Blacks Sevens Twitter

UPDATED 3.13PM: New Zealand's All Black Sevens team may have floundered on the global sevens circuit, but know how to turn it on when it counts.

The kiwi men have joined the women in black in taking out the sevens World Cup for the second straight tournament.

The pair of title-winners, who honed their skills to title-winning perfection at the NZ Sevens high performance training base at Tauranga's Blake Park, join their 15-a-side colleagues to give New Zealand World Cup titles in all four branches of the game.

In a repeat of the 2013 final the All Blacks Sevens were too strong for England, taking it out 33-12 at San Francisco's AT&T Park, home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants. Rotorua-born Scott Curry was a giant for his team, taking out the player of the final title.

Two tries to Sione Molia, converted by Kurt Baker, gave the kiwi men the perfect start. An England touchdown late in the half brought them back into it at 14-7 at the break, but Auckland speedster Joe Ravouvou, later named player of the tournament, answered that to take the lead out to 19-7 as the second half reached a crescendo.

England's second try closed it again to 19-12 and reopened the chance of a comeback, but Akuila Rokoliso calmed kiwi nerves with a breakaway try as fulltime approached. Trael Joass then added the icing on the cake in added time.

Earlier the Black Ferns Sevens were even more dominant in taking out their final 27-0 over France.

The French were amped after their upset semifinal disposal of Australia and fronted up to the kiwi women early, but couldn't match their pace and incisiveness on attack and staunch defence.

Three tries to Michaela Blyde and one each to Portia Woodman and Tyla Nathan-Wong sealed the deal for the kiwis.

It was all the more impressive a performance from the Black Ferns Sevens as they were backing up from a hugely tough semifinal against the USA, getting home 26-21 over the team fired up by the home crowd.

Men's final: New Zealand 33 (Sione Molia 2, Joe Ravouvou, Akuila Rokoliso, Trael Joass tries; Kurt Baker 4 conv) - England 12 (Mike Ellery, Ruaridh McConnochie tries; Tom Mitchell conv). HT: 14-7. Women's final: New Zealand 27 (Michaela Blyde 3, Portia Woodman, Tyla Nathan-Wong tries; Nathan-Wong con) - France 0. HT: 15-0.

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