South Africa won the Dubai Sevens with a crushing 33-7 victory over Australia on Saturday.
Seabelo Senatla was the star of the show with a brace of tries in the final as South Africa won the event for the first time since 2008.
Kwagga Smith, Philip Snyman and Ruhan Nel also crossed the whitewash for the dominant Africans while Pama Fou scored Australia’s only try.
“There’s a lot of open space on a sevens pitch and if you can get your speedsters into those open spaces, they can do something for you,” said Blitzbok coach Neil Powell.
“We’re not the biggest team on the circuit but the guys are really physical. I’m really proud of their defensive effort today.”
Captain Kyle Brown said they had improved significantly since losing to England in the third-place match at the opening event of the World Series in Australia — the Gold Coast Sevens.
“We didn’t play our best in Australia but this was a fantastic event for us. We’ve worked hard on our defence all day and this means a lot to all of us. We’ll enjoy tonight for sure,” said Brown.
Fiji remained top of the World Series standings after finishing third by beating New Zealand 26-12.
Fiji won the Gold Coast Sevens beating Samoa in the final.
They now have a two-point lead over South Africa in the overall standings with third-placed Australia just ahead of New Zealand, Samoa and England.
Argentina beat Scotland 26-12 to win the Plate final with Samoa winning the Bowl and Canada taking the Shield.