South Africa men end their Hong Kong Sevens hoodoo and New Zealand women win again

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HONG KONG (AP) — South Africa broke its title drought in the Hong Kong Sevens when it won the final from defending champion Argentina 35-7 on Sunday.

The Blitzboks came to Hong Kong's 50th anniversary as the favorite having won the last three stops in the sevens world series. But it also carried baggage from never having won Hong Kong and losing the final of the crown jewel of sevens rugby in 1997, 2008, 2009 and 2017.

“We broke the hoodoo and can finally call ourselves champions,” captain Impi Visser said.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand women claimed their fourth consecutive Hong Kong title after winning an inevitable final against Australia 19-14.

Hong Kong's most successful men's teams, Fiji and New Zealand, shut out South Africa, but the Blitzboks dominated New Zealand 26-14 in the semifinals and Argentina knocked out Fiji 24-17 in the quarterfinals.

In the final, the Blitzboks scored after 38 seconds when Tristan Leyds punted from inside his 22 down the middle, collected the ball and raced between the posts.

Argentina, which lost to South Africa 38-0 in pool play on Saturday, leveled when Santino Zangara took Luciano Gonzalez's offload.

But the rest of the final was all South Africa. Leyds took a kick pass from Selvyn Davids in his own half and went on a mazy run to feed Davids in support. Davids got a second try, Shilton van Wyk scored from a Leyds chip and Ryan Oosthuizen also touched down.

Even more dominant this season than the Blitzboks has been the New Zealand women's team.

They have won five of the six stops in the series, contesting every final with Australia. They're even better in Hong Kong, having won all three previous women's championships.

“We love these finals,” New Zealand's Jorja Miller said. “These are the moments we play for.”

Mahina Paul, on her 25th birthday, got New Zealand rolling by slipping outside Kahli Henwood for the opening try. Miller scored her ninth try of the weekend in support of a Manaia Nuku break for 14-0.

Co-captain Bella Nasser finished her own break and Australia trailed only 14-7 at halftime. But Australia lost Teagan Levi to the sin-bin from the second half restart when she took out Miller in the air.

Moments later, Nuku was denied a try in a great tackle by Heidi Dennis but New Zealand used a ruck penalty to send Kelsey Teneti clear for a decisive 19-7 lead.

The last five minutes were all defense and Australia couldn't crack New Zealand until there were seconds left when Maddison Levi scored her seventh try of the weekend.

Levi passed Portia Woodman-Wickliffe's 256 all-time career tries and finished Hong Kong on 260, trailing only Michaela Brake's 287. Brake had her first baby, a son, last month.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby