The All Blacks sevens were denied victory in Sunday night’s Hamilton Sevens finale after Brady Rush was ruled to have knocked on with the last play in a dramatic decider.
Rush thought he snatched victory at the death after chasing down Roderick Solo’s grubber kick, but he fumbled the grounding, according to the TMO after a long, tense review.
It wasn’t a fabulous performance to finish their last World Series tournament on home soil for a while yet, with World Rugby removing New Zealand as hosts from next season.
The Kiwis were determined to finish with the trophy at FMG Stadium Waikato before a home crowd, but a jubilant Argentina hung on for a thrilling 14-12 success, with Tobias Wade’s conversion deciding the final.
The All Blacks sevens were tied third after three rounds of the men’s series but have moved into first, leapfrogging South Africa and Samoa despite losing the final ahead of next weekend’s Sydney Sevens.
Argentina knocked out crowd favourites Fiji and the United States to reach the decider and stormed back in the second half to clinch their first New Zealand Sevens title before more than 19,000 fans in Hamilton.
Joe Webber was lucky to avoid an early bath for his late swinging arm that flattened Argentina’s Agustin Fraga, who left the field for a head injury assessment and was unable to continue.
Fraga appeared to be falling which appeared to be enough for Webber’s tackle to be worth a yellow card only.
The All Blacks sevens also lost Regan Ware to a knee injury in the second minute. He and Webber were playing their 50th World Series tournaments.
Webber soon joined Ware on the sidelines and Argentina wasted a golden chance to score with a player advantage, throwing a careless forward pass.
Instead, one of the weekend’s breakout stars, Solo, stepped and broke down the right before he unleashed the galloping Akuila Rokolisoa.
Roared to the finish line, Rokolisoa fended off Argentina’s scrambling defence to score a spectacular opening try.
Solo then skipped superbly down the right flank, avoiding the touchline by millimetres, for another brilliant finish.
However, Santiago Alvarez and Marcos Moneta’s converted tries gave Argentina the trophy, sparking wild scenes throughout their squad after the final whistle.
The fancy dress box for the sevens is closing after 22 tournaments in New Zealand since the first in 2000 in Wellington.
For the meantime, New Zealand has lost hosting rights for the World Series from next season and there is no clear date for any comeback.
Hamilton was a swansong, of sorts, after four editions since replacing the capital as hosts in 2018.
The heydays of the wild Wellington Sevens parties were a distant memory at that point.
Hamilton was happy to the revive the festival. The crowds – predominantly Fijians – returned in force and its latest occasion was no different for the weekend’s bigger matches.
Still, Sunday’s final felt like a chapter was closing for the All Blacks sevens – their home tournament gone.
They breezed into the decider after a fabulous display to crush France 38-0, following their nervous 10-5 quarterfinal win against Ireland to start finals day.
Their semifinal against the French was as comfortable as it gets in a competitive series, even if tensions boiled over.
Frustrated France finished with five players after Laborde Dorian and Paulin Riva were shown yellow cards for charging into a melee on halfway.
Earlier, the All Blacks sevens rode their luck against the Irish and needed Rush’s late match-winning try to reach the semifinals.
Dylan Collier was sinbinned with four minutes left to give the Irish a player advantage for two minutes, but the hosts held out with six players.
That was good training for survival with a player less at a crucial time when facing Argentina in an intense final, although it wasn’t enough.
Hamilton Sevens, All Blacks sevens on finals day
Sunday’s men’s quarterfinals: France 22-17 South Africa, Argentina 19-10 Fiji, United States 28-14 Australia, New Zealand 10-5 Ireland.
Semifinals: New Zealand 38-0 France, Argentina 24-14 United States.
Final: Argentina 14-12 New Zealand.
