New Zealand edges Australia for Canada Sevens title

New Zealand scored while Australia was reduced to five men Sunday to secure a 17-14 comeback win in final of Cana Sevens, its third title of World Rugby Sevens season. Joe Ravouvou scored second of his two tries while Australia’s Maurice Longbottom and Lachie Miller were in sin-bin and New Zealand n held on to win, though it ended game with six players after Scott Dixon was also shown a yellow card.

New Zealand, which also won Hamilton and Cape Town legs of World Series, w les South Africa by 11 points in overall standings with four rounds remaining, including Singapore and Hong Kong legs.

New Zealand faced a tough ro to final, having to beat Olympic champion Fiji in quarterfinals and LA Sevens winner South Africa in semis. It won both matches with relative comfort, beating Fiji 17-5 and South Africa 27-15 — reversing result of previous weekend’s semifinals in LA.

Australia beat England 31-12 in quarterfinals and hosts Cana 19-14 in semis. Cana beat South Africa 26-19 in playoff for third place, its best result of season.

Australia led 14-5 in final after a dominant first half in which it scored tries through Lachie Anderson and Longbottom while Ravouvou scored his first for New Zealand.

Andrew Knewstub scored from an intercept, n Ravouvou ded his second as New Zealand edged ahe in a tight second half to claim its first Cana title since 2016.

“Every time New Zealand plays Aussie it’s a huge game,” New Zealand captain Tim Mikkelson said. “Aussie’s been playing amazing footy last couple of weeks to be honest.

“We talked about how it was going to take whole 12 to beat m and it did.”

New Zealand picked up its third title in six events this series and les standings with 115 points, 11 clear of South Africa, 32 he of third-place Fiji. Australia moved into fourth spot with 81 points, four ahe of fifth-place England.

bronze was Cana’s first podium finish in series since winning in Singapore in 2017, and a confidence boost ahe of Olympics.