New Zealand were crowned the new champions of the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens after a thrilling final against Samoa tonight.

The Kiwi side reclaimed the title they last won in Dubai in 2007 after powering their way to a 24-12 victory over the Samoans. The New Zealanders had notched up a 10-0 lead by half time thanks to tries from Tomasi Cama and captain DJ Forbes.

Two tries in quick succession early in the second half, however, saw the Samoans briefly taking the lead. But the New Zealanders weren’t going to let this one get away and came back with a try, courtesy of Kurt Baker soon afterwards, with another one from Cama just before full time to seal the win.

“It’s great to have won this. I thought we were a bit underdone coming into this tournament not having played in any warm-up tournaments like a lot of the other teams had done so I am really surprised how well the team came together,” said a thrilled New Zealand coach, Gordon Tietjens, afterwards.

“We played some really tough matches so I’m really happy to have come through and to have won this one,” added Tietjens, whose side have added to their impeccable record in Dubai, having claimed a record seven titles here.

This victory also marked a return to the top after a rather disappointing last season where they could only manage fourth place in the overall IRB Sevens World Series standings.

New Zealand had booked their spot in the final with an impressive 19-0 victory over Fiji while Samoa defeated England 28-19 in their Cup semifinal.

A little earlier in the evening, there was plenty of celebration in the Australian camp after they got the better of defending champions South Africa in the Plate final. The Australians were the only side to put points on the board in that match, claiming a 7-0 victory over the South Africans who had been relegated to the Plate competition after losing out to Fiji earlier in the day in the Cup quarterfinal.

It certainly wasn’t the start South African coach Paul Treu was looking for as his side began the defence of their overall IRB Sevens World Series title in Dubai.

Meanwhile, in other finals played tonight, Wales beat Zimbabwe, 38-7 to take the Bowl while Russia defeated Portugal, 17-14 to claim the Shield.

In the invitational tournament, the French women took top honours in the hotly contested international invitational women’s section after a 19-0 victory over Wooden Spoon Rugby.

In the international invitational men’s tournament it was the International Marauders who emerged with top honours after defeating Sporting Chance Foundation, 33-20 in their final.

In the Gulf Men’s final, it was the Dubai Dragons who got the better of the Hurricanes with a convincing 47-12 win while the Gulf Vets final saw the Al Ain Amblers defeating the Dubai Hurricanes, 12-10. And it was the Abu Dhabi Harlequins who claimed victory in the Gulf Under 18s final by defeating Exiles 31-5.

As the curtain came down on the 40th edition of the award-winning Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, fans and players celebrated another spectacularly successful tournament as they enjoyed the Rugby Rock concert.

For all the tournament results, log on to www.dubairugby7s.com.