Argentina strengthened their grip on the Sevens Series by beating New Zealand in the Canada Sevens final, while the Blitzboks finished strongly to claim ninth place.

Los Pumas overwhelmed New Zealand in a 36-12 victory to win their third straight Canda Sevens crown in Vancouver on Sunday, tightening their grip on the eight-leg series with their third tournament win in a row, after claiming gold in Cape Town and Perth.

Argentina now top the overall standings with 78 points from four tournaments, 24 points clear of Ireland and Fiji, who each have 54 series points.

Earlier on Sunday, the Blitzboks, who endured a disappointing pool stage exit, beat Australia 24-7 to claim ninth place at the tournament.

Impi Visser opened the scoring, before Shilton van Wyk and David Brits dotted down to give the Springbok Sevens a 19-7 half-time lead. Rosko Specman’s try was the only score of the second half.

Having finished fifth in Perth and sixth in Cape Town, the Blitzboks have dropped down to sixth on the overall standings, with 46 points and trail Argentina by 32 points.

Only 26 points now separate South Africa from dropping out of the top eight that will contest in the new ‘winner takes all’ Grand Final tournament in Madrid.

France, with Antoine Dupont scoring his third try in his debut tournament, secured bronze in Canada by thrashing the USA 42-12 and closed the gap on the Blitzboks to 10 points on the overall table.

The Sevens Series will now head to Los Angeles, where the Blitzboks have been drawn with Argentina, Ireland and Spain in the three-day tournament from 1-3 March.

Photo: David Van Der Sandt/Gallo Images

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Src: sarugbymag.co.za