The Americans finished third in a tournament to remember, beating powerful New Zealand twice including a 31-12 decision in the third-place match.
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Dubai is the first stop of the 10-event World-Series, which includes a stop in Canada for the first time. Having trailed 14-0 through tries from Sam Myers and Ed Jenkins, the Blitzboks hit back to draw level through two Kwagga Smith tries, the second with the last play of normal time.
On day one of the men’s series, the 16 teams and match officials all wore black armbands in memory of Beth Coalter, World Rugby’s Sevens Operations Manager who passed away last month, which they will replicate on day two for New Zealand rugby legend Jonah Lomu.
England scored first in the second half to reduce the deficit but could only add one more try to their score as Fiji sealed the crown with a 28-17 win.
Kelly Russell and Karen Paquin scored tries for an early Canadian lead against New Zealand in the Plate final but the tide turned after Megan Lukan was yellow-carded.
Further tries to Emilee Cherry and Evania Pelite put the exclamation mark on a convincing display.
If all the teams keep playing like they did in the Dubai Sevens for the rest of the year the Aussies will be hard to beat in any of the remaining three tournaments in the HSBC Sevens World Series, or at the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Jerry Tuwai won the HSBC player of the final.
It is unclear if any are in doubt for the second round of he world series in Cape Town next week.
Fiji defeated England 28-17 in the Dubai Sevens Cup final this morning (Fiji time) to win the first tournament.
Meanwhile, England topped Pool D with victories over Wales 26-5, Kenya 19-12 and Australia 21-5.
“I was saying to myself, ‘We need a win”.
The US clinched the 2014/2015 season-ending London Sevens title in May, beating South Africa, England and Australia in the process.
The others are Fiji vs. Australia, England vs. Argentina, and New Zealand vs. Samoa.
Justin Douglas scored a late consolation try for Canada.
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“It’s especially frustrating because we felt coming into the tournament that although we are missing a half-dozen players from our last tournaments – Pan Am Games and Amsterdam – there was still enough quality in this side to finish better than we did”.
