Australia beat New Zealand in a men’s rugby sevens world series final for the first time in 20 years at Twickenham on Monday (AEST).
Henry Paterson starred for Australia in the London Sevens final with a hat trick of tries, including the winner in golden point extra time, and a try-saving tackle that prevented New Zealand from winning after the hooter in regulation time.
Australia’s 19-14 triumph was its first against New Zealand in a cup final since 2002 in Brisbane.
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It was the first anywhere in more than four years.
The Australians are also in a three team hunt for their first world series title, which will be decided in the ninth and last leg in August, at the LA Sevens in Carson, California.
South Africa, beaten in the quarterfinals, has the overall lead from Australia by two points and Argentina by six.
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New Zealand was favoured in its series leading 100th cup final after beating Australia in the pool stage, and Fiji 22-19 in the semifinals.
But Australia struck first when Ben Dowling’s break finished with Paterson cutting back off Matthew Gonzalez for the only try of the first half.
New Zealand hit back with converted tries by Akuila Rokolisoa from a stolen kickoff and Leroy Carter from Dylan Collier’s offload.
Paterson tied the score at 14-14 with two minutes left with a second try in which he burned the New Zealand line with speed.
Then, after the fulltime hooter, New Zealand’s Caleb Tangitau looked to be sprinting free on the outside but Paterson tackled him into touch, forcing extra time.
From Australia’s kickoff, Josh Turner tapped the ball back to the Australians and it was spread wide for Paterson to run in and secure their eighth title in series history.
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Paterson was asked which he liked most, the winning try or the try-saving tackle?
He picked the tackle.
“That will keep the coaches happy,” he said.
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Australian captain Nick Malouf was understandably thrilled after lifting the trophy.
“I’m just so proud of the performance from our boys,” Malouf said.
“We spoke about getting to work and putting in a tradesman-like performance and some of the efforts throughout the day, I cannot be prouder of everyone’s effort.
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“We’ve worked so hard for this so I’m glad we’ve finally got the reward that I feel like we’ve deserved.
“We’ve still got LA to go but it’s a good result for all the hard work we’re putting in. This is the first cup final that I’ve or anyone in this group has won.
“We looked at some photos of ‘Chucky’ (James Stannard) winning it in 2010 through the week so we knew it was possible – so to come out here and do it is incredible.”
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