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Fiji and New Zealand seal sevens wins in Singapore / Photo: © AFP
Fiji and New Zealand seal sevens wins in Singapore
Fiji won the men's title at the World Sevens Series in Singapore with a 21-12 victory over surprise finalists Kenya on Sunday, while New Zealand lifted the women's trophy after defeating arch-rivals Australia.
The Black Ferns sealed first place in the women's regular season standings with a 31-7 victory in the final, while Argentina finished top of the men's table after finishing third.
Fiji finished runners-up in the men's standings after overcoming Kenya with a strong second-half performance at the National Stadium.
Kenya reached a World Sevens Series final for the first time since 2018 with victories over Ireland, France and Spain in their earlier games. They set themselves up for another stunning result when Nygel Amaitsa gave them the lead on the final play of the first half.
However, Viwa Naduvalo ran clear for a pair of tries for Fiji after the interval and Rauto Vakadranu added another to seal their victory, before William Indakalu got a late consolation for the Kenyans.
Argentina took the bronze medal in Singapore after they recovered from a 14-point deficit to beat Spain 33-14 in the third-place play-off.
The Pumas topped the men's regular season standings on the back of three tournament wins this season in Perth, Vancouver and Hong Kong.
They will be joined in the sevens world championship in Los Angeles next month by Fiji, Spain, South Africa, France, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, who completed the top eight in the season standings.
Despite their heroics in Singapore, Kenya finished in ninth place and will face Uruguay, Ireland, the United States and four teams from the challenger series in a promotion and relegation play-off to decide the 2025-26 sevens series line-up.
In the women's tournament, New Zealand and Australia met in a sevens series final for the fourth time in six tournaments this season with the Black Ferns producing a dominant performance to seal first place in the standings.
Tries by Michaela Brake and Risi Pouri-Lane put New Zealand in charge early on but Maddison Levi, who scored her landmark 200th try for Australia in sevens rugby earlier in the tournament, narrowed the deficit to 12-7 at half-time.
However, the Black Ferns proved too strong after the interval as Jazmin Felix-Hotham and Kelsey Teneti scored further tries before Brake added her second of the game to seal a comprehensive victory.
Canada secured third place in Singapore after a 21-5 victory over France in the play-offs.
Fiji and Great Britain confirmed their places in the top eight with their performances in Singapore and they will be joined in next month's world championship by New Zealand, Australia, France Canada, Japan and the United States.
M. Taylor--BTZ
