HONG KONG (AP) — Argentina's men won their first Hong Kong Sevens rugby title and New Zealand's women claimed their own history with a hat trick of championships on Sunday.
A first-time men's champion of the crown jewel in the sevens world series was guaranteed when Argentina and France reached the final.
France knocked out Hong Kong's greatest men's winners, defending champion New Zealand in the quarterfinals and Fiji in the semifinals.
But Argentina, after falling in the previous five Hong Kong semifinals, used the confidence from a two-month winning streak to subdue Olympic champion France 12-7.
Argentina's Joaquin Pellandini had a second-minute try disallowed for a double movement, then Marcos Moneta made a try-saving tackle on France's Gregoire Arfeuil.
It was 0-0 at halftime, after which France's Liam Delamare was yellow-carded for a tackle that forced Argentina's Luciano Gonzalez to hobble off. Moments later, Argentina captain Santiago Alvarez crashed over for the final's first points.
After Alvarez scored, a late hit by France's Joe Quere Karaba was penalized and gave Argentina a restart scrum put-in on halfway. Moneta glided from his own half for the clinching try and a 12-0 lead.
Moneta was more emotional than usual because the former world sevens player of the year broke his fibula in Hong Kong a year ago and missed the Paris Olympics. “A perfect day,” he said after the final.
Argentina's try-line wasn't breached until the last seconds by Arfeuil.
“It's difficult to describe the sensation (of finally winning Hong Kong),” Alvarez said. “Very, very happy and very proud of this team. Hong Kong is always very tough for us and now this year we get the gold.”
Bagging Hong Kong gave Argentina a third straight win in the series after Perth and Vancouver and stretched its winning streak to 16 matches.
New Zealand women three-peat
The New Zealand women reeled off three successive Hong Kong titles after beating Australia 26-19.
Jorja Miller was the star after making up for a first-half yellow card with two second-half tries in 66 seconds that decided the final.
Miller was sin-binned for a tip tackle on Faith Nathan in the first half but her teammates scored in her absence through Michaela Brake's converted try off a Manaia Nuku offload.
However, Australia tied the score at 12 by halftime after Maddison Levi hurdled three defenders for her second try of the half. They extended Levi's Hong Kong haul of tries to a women's record 14 in a single tournament.
Miller started the second half and her ruck turnover led to her first try off a dummy. She finished her second from the restart to make it a game-over 26-12 with two minutes to go.
Levi was stopped from a fourth match hat trick of tries this weekend after being run down by Brake, but Australia scored last thanks to Mackenzie Davis' try.
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The Associated Press
