Argentina Edges New Zealand

Santiago Cruz and Lucio Lopez Fleming scored second-half tries and Argentina defeated New Zealand, 21-12, to win the inaugural Team Roc USA Sevens title before 8,337 at the Home Depot Center on Sunday.

The win is Argentina’s first International Rugby Board World Sevens Series title and lifts Argentina to fifth place in the standings. It also was Argentina’s first Sevens Series victory over New Zealand in 23 tries. Last December, the Pumas came within two points at the South Africa Sevens.

New Zealand extended its lead in the series over second-place England, which claimed the Plate championship with a 55-0 victory over Canada.

Juan Ignacio Gauthier scored in overtime to give Argentina a 17-12 victory over Samoa in the first semifinal. In the second semifinal, replacement Rudi Wulf scored after the buzzer for the third of three unanswered tries in New Zealand’s 15-12 victory over archrival Fiji.

In the Bowl championship, Australia edged crowd-favorite Kenya, 33-31, after a last-minute conversion sailed wide. The United States’ try at the buzzer gave the hosts a 29-22 win over South Korea in the Shield championship.

England’s Ben Gollings scored a tournament-high 61 points and passed South Africa’s Earl Rose to take the series lead with 225.

Fabian Juries of South Africa and Park Kwang-Soo of South Korea each scored seven tries. Three players scored six, including Kenya’s Oscar Osir Osula, the competition front-runner with 22 tries, one more than Gollings.