South Africa beat England 19-12 in the Final of the Dubai leg of the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series — taking their second title in this United Arab Emirates city.

It was a tense Final in which the winning score came 30 seconds from full-time, but not before England came back from trailing 0-12 at the break to level the scores.

As Springbok coach Paul Treu said, there were some "tense moments", but the Boks showed more composure than an England team that became impatient as the clock run down in the late stages.

"It is a great reward for the hard work the players put in," Treu said, adding that this is "only the first of eight tournaments" in the series and there is a long way to go yet.

Samoa (Plate Final), Portugal (Bowl Final) and America (Shield Final) won the minor silverware.

Day Two results and reports:

Bowl quarterfinals:

Rugby World Cup Sevens-bound Zimbabwe shocked Scotland to win through to the quarter finals of the Bowl and now face a tougher test in France.

Wales and Portugal meet in the other last eight match after respective victories against Arabian Gulf and Georgia.

Scotland endured more disappointment first up on day two with a loss against Zimbabwe and now play the USA, who were themselves beaten by France.

Georgia face hosts Arabian Gulf in the other half of the draw.

Results:
Portugal 19-7 Georgia
Wales 26-7 Arabian Gulf
France 22-12 USA
Scotland 5-19 Zimbabwe

Cup quarterfinals:

New Zealand scraped into the semifinals with a disjointed 21-17 defeat of Kenya. Gordon Tietjens's men were nearly victims of one of the great sevens boil-overs after trailing 0-12 late in the first half, but fought back to set up a semifinal against England.

It took a second try to Tim Mikkelson with less than two minutes remaining to avoid humiliation in a match where both sides scored three tries. The Kenyans, who had lost their 12 other games against New Zealand by sizeable margins, crossed twice inside the first six minutes through captain Humphrey Kayange and speedster Gibson Weru.

England, who beat Argentina 15-5 in their quarterfinal, were impressive winners over Fiji on the first day of the tournament. They were also simply too fast and too powerful for the young Pumas, who seemed to loose concentration as their lack of discipline cost them dearly.

In the other half of the draw Fiji recovered from the disappointment of losing to England late on Day One by overcoming staunch Pacific Island rivals Samoa in a fittingly tight match, 12-7, and now face South Africa. Fiji took and early lead, but Samoa cashed in on a numerical advantage — when Fiji were reduced to six players through a yellow card just before half-time — to see the Samoans take a 7-5 lead into the break. Fiji got back in front

South Africa advanced to the quarterfinals with a comprehensive 19-0 win over a tough Australian side. South Africa took a lead through a breakout try from Rayno Benjamin, just before half-time, to see them take a 7-0 lead into the break. And they stretched that lead when Robert Ebersohn used his pace to go over in the corner for a 12-0 advantage with only three minutes left on the clock. And the game was over as a contest when Gio Aplon stepped through a gap with less than a minute remaining and score the Springboks' third try.

Results:
New Zealand 21-17 Kenya
England 15-5 Argentina
Samoa 7-12 Fiji
South Africa 19-0 Australia

Shield semifinal:

The Arabian Gulf will meet America in the Final, after they were both made to work for their semifinal victories — with Arabian Gulf overcoming a tough Georgian outfit 22-12, while the American Eagles hung on desperately in the end for a 17-14 win over a Scottish team that will be kicking themselves for letting a late chance for victory slip away.

Results:
Arabian Gulf 22-12 Georgia
USA 17-14 Scotland

Bowl semifinals:

Wales will look back at a game of lost opportunities, despite being whitewashed (24-0) by a strong Portuguese side. In the end Portugal, with playmaker Pedro Leal very prominent, outscored the Welsh by four tries to nil. However, with just two minutes to go Wales were still within one score of a win.

France advanced to face the Portuguese after overcoming a determined Zimbabwe. The French raced into an early 7-0, but then a scintillating solo effort by Cleopas Makotose levelled the scores up at seven-all. However, an intercept by Thomas Combezou saw the French take a 12-7 lead into the break. It was all square three minutes into the second period when Alex Ndangana went over for Zimbabwe. However, the Africans were again their own worst enemies and conceded possession and Mathieu Acebes scored for a 17-12 win for France.

Results:
Wales 0-24 Portugal
France 17-12 Zimbabwe

Plate semifinals:

Kenya came from behind twice to beat Argentina and advance to the Plate Final. Two early tries by Argentina, with playmaker Tomas Passerotti very prominent, saw the South Americans race into a 12-0 lead. Despite being reduced to six men soon afterwards, the Argentineans still found the legs to outstrip a despondent and tired-looking Kenyan side. It seemed they had spent all their energy in the quarterfinal against New Zealand, but a late score by Collins Injera saw Kenya narrow the gap to 7-19 at the break.

Victor Oduor made that 14-19 while the Pumas were still a man down and it was game on. Injera scored with three minutes on the clock to give the Africans the lead for the first time — 21-19. But the Pumas were not done yet, with Dino Tomas Caceres going over in the corner to hand the lead (24-21) back to the South Americans. But the ding-dong nature of the game continued — with Oduor scoring the winner in the final seconds, as confusion over the actual playing time caught the Pumas off guard.

The Samoans used not only their obvious power, but also some guile as Timoteo Iosua opened the scoring with a great chip-'n-chase. The Aussies hit back through a William Bishop try, opting to use space rather than seek contact as they set up a great try. A successful conversion saw the Aussies take a 7-5 lead into the break.

Iosua scored inside 30 seconds of the restart as the Samoans showed they also have pace out wide and the Pacific Islanders were back in the lead — 10-7. A quick tap-'n-go by Lolo Lui saw Samoa race further ahead and at 17-7 it left the Aussies with a mountain to climb. The Samoans, out-muscling the Australians at the breakdown, now controlled the game. There was a late consolation score for Drumayne Dayberg-Muir, after the siren for full-time had already sounded, but it was too little too late as Samoa advanced 17-14.

Results:
Kenya 26-24 Argentina
Samoa 17-14 Australia

Cup semifinals:

England produced a three-try first-half blitz to shock champions New Zealand in the Cup semifinal in Dubai, winning 21-19.

It was tight early on, with defence and brute force at the breakdown the dominant features. It was England who broke the duck with a strong run from Josua Drauniniu, offloading to Rob Vickerman for the opening score. Ollie Phillips compounded the trouble for a struggling Kiwi team, which simply could not get their hands on the ball, as he scored a second try for England. Josua Drauniniu added one more as England took a commanding 21-0 lead into the break against an error-prone New Zealand team.

Lote Raikabula hit back for New Zealand straight after the break, as they started the long climb back into the game. And another score inside 60 seconds, by Nafi Tuitavake, saw the Kiwis storm back into contention. At 12-21 it was still two scores, but the Kiwis had now sent England a clear message. Solomon King scored New Zealand's third, to make it 19-21 with just seconds remaining. However, it was just too little too late, with a failed conversion leaving England victors.

An extra-time drop-goal by captain Mzwandile Stick gave South Africa a dramatic 10-7 win over Fiji and set up a Final showdown with England.

South Africa started strongly, retaining early possession. But Fiji managed to hold up Robert Ebersohn and secured a turnover for their first possession after two minutes. However, a handling error ended the Fijian charge. Another error gave the Springboks a chance as the game moved into the final two minutes of the first half. The deadlock was finally broken when Rupeni Nasiga scored from a South African mistake inside their own 22. That gave Fiji a 7-0 lead at the break.

South Africa continued to be their own worst enemies, with shocking handling ending a golden try scoring opportunity. The Boks' ordinary skills levels and poor option taking continued to cost them, as Fiji gleefully fed off the South Africans' numerous errors. Gio Aplon broke nicely again, but Stick went off his feet as the Boks lost another scoring chance. It was much the same moments later when the Bok runners were held up by firm Fijian defence just 10 metres out from the Pacific Islanders' line. But from the resulting scrum Vuyo Zangqa picked up a lose ball and scored , leaving Stick to slot the conversion and send the game into sudden-death extra time.

And it was that man Mzwandile Stick, who slotted a 60-metre drop-goal to send his team into the Final.

Results:
New Zealand 19-21 England
Fiji 7-10 South Africa (extra time — seven-all at full-time)

Shield Final:

The USA won the Shield title in their first event as a 'core' side on the IRB Sevens World Series, beating the Arabian Gulf 31-7 in the final.

The hosts delighted the home crowd by winning through to the final but met their match in the Eagles, who scored tries through Nese Malifa, Justin Boyd (two), captain Chris Wyles and vice-captain Todd Clever. The hosts scored once through Taif Al Delamie.

Result:
Arabian Gulf 31-7 USA

Bowl Final:

Portugal overwhelmed European rivals France 24-0 to take the Shield title, and claim two points towards the World Series.

Two tries by David Mateus and one each for his twin Diogo and Joao Mirra proved too much for the French, who failed to mount a telling response.

Earlier, France had battled to a 17-12 win in a stunning match against Zimbabwe, while the Mateus twins were again outstanding for Portugal, each scoring in a convincing 24-0 semi final win against Wales.

Result:
Portugal 24-0 France

Plate Final:

Uale Mai lifted the Plate trophy in Dubai after his powerful side triumphed over the fleet-footed Kenyans in the final, 12-7.

Apelu Fa'aiuga's try was converted by Lolo Lui to give the islanders a 7-0 half time lead and Ofisa Treviranus stretched the advantage to 12 points. Kenya's outstanding captain Humphrey Kayange scored late in the second half but it was too little too late as Samoa took the spoils.

Samoa take eight points towards the overall World Series race, while Kenya travel on to George, South Africa with six.

Earlier, Kenya defied the odds by coming back from 19-0 against Argentina to win 26-24 in one of the matches of the tournament, before Samoa also came from behind to win against Australia, who were much improved under new coach Michael O'Connor.

Result:
Kenya 7-12 Samoa

Cup Final:

South Africa piled on the early pressure, with their trademark defence keeping England pinned deep in their own half. From a scrum turnover the Springboks went wide to the right, where Robert Ebersohn cut back to score the opening try, as the South Africans took a 7-0 lead after just three minutes.

England's hands let them down on a number of occasions, as the Boks continued to dominate territory in the first half. Another penalty at the breakdown gave the Boks another golden opportunity just 10 metres out. And Mpho Mbiyozo made the advantage count as he scored his team's second try. The conversion was wide, but at 12-0 the South Africans had a commanding lead — which was how it stayed till half-time.

An early free-kick, for a skew feed at the scrum, gave England a chance and Tom Biggs made it count as he beat Stick on the outside to open England's account with a try — making it 5-12. A succession of penalties against ASouth Africa soon saw the Boks receive a general warning.

Within seconds of coming onto the field as a replacement Paul Delport was yellow carded after another penalty and Micky Young made the numerical advantage count with a try — the conversion tying it up at 12-all.

With two minutes left the Boks won a crucial scrum just inside their 22, after holding up the England player in the tackle. The tempers started to boil over and the referee spoke to England about their over robust play.

Another turnover, at a ruck, with less than a minute to go, saw Gio Aplon sprint 80 metres, before handing the ball to Rayno Benjamin for the match-winning try. The conversion made the margin 19-12 and gave South Africa their second Dubai title.

Result:
England 12-19 South Africa

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