THREE late tries, one after the final hooter, saw New Zealand fight back to beat South Africa 24-21 in the Cup final at the Wellington Sevens, the third leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series on Sunday.

    It was New Zealand’s first win on the 2015-16 circuit and saw them move up to third on the table behind South Africa and Fiji, as interest in sevens heightens ahead of its Olympic debut this year.

    Captain Tim Mikkelson attributed the determination not to give up when down by 14 points in the second half to a pep talk from 15s World Cup-winning All Black Liam Messam.

    “We talked all week that we needed a lot of heart, a lot of ticker. Liam Messam talked about putting the mana [pride] back in the jersey after the last couple of tournaments and that’s what we wanted to do,” Mikkelson said.

    “We put ourselves under pressure but we knew if we could get the ball in hand and keep it we could win.”

    After three of the 10 legs, South Africa have 54 points followed by Fiji (52), New Zealand (47) and England (41).  (SD-Agencies)