SINGAPORE: New Zealand secured double glory at the Singapore Sevens on Sunday, winning both the men's and women's tournaments to signal their Olympic intent with the Paris Games fast approaching.
New Zealand's men held off a determined challenge from Ireland to win 17-14 while their women's team surged to a 31-21 victory over Australia.
New Zealand raced into an early 10-0 lead in the men's final with tries by Leroy Carter and Fehi Fineanganofo but Gavin Mullin narrowed the deficit for the Irish just before the interval.
Dylan Collier restored New Zealand's 10-point cushion in the second half but Harry McNulty's response set up a tense finale.
The All Blacks held on for their second series win in a row after their success at Hong Kong last month.
New Zealand forward Tone Ng Shiu said his team were building momentum for the sevens series grand final in Madrid and the Paris Olympics in July.
"We started off slow in the world series this year but now we're just building up to the Olympics, taking it one tournament at a time," he said.
"Two wins in a row – you've got to be happy with that," added Ng Shiu, who was in the New Zealand side that took the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
"We know there's a bit of pressure to get that gold medal.
"We tried two times and we weren't quite there. So hopefully we can embrace the pressure at the next tournament and build for the Olympics."
Argentina were crowned men's series winners after they recovered from a 10-point deficit to beat South Africa 14-10 in the fifth-place playoff.
The South Americans won tournaments earlier this season in Cape Town, Perth and Vancouver to top the table with 106 points, two points ahead of the second-placed Irish.
Great Britain bounced back from a heart-breaking 15-12 extra-time loss to Ireland in the semi-finals to trounce Australia 29-7 in the third-place match.
The result saw GB leapfrog the United States for eighth place in the league standings and secured their status as a core team in next season's world series.
"To be in that top eight in Madrid secures our programme's funding for another year," said GB captain Robbie Fergusson.
"That means the boys have jobs next year, it means we can have contracts. It means everything," said the Scot.
"Nobody gave us a hope-in-hell chance this weekend of pushing the USA out of the top eight and taking that spot.
"But we had total belief in our group and we did something special this weekend and hopefully we can kickstart a special few months now heading into the Olympics."
Argentina, Ireland and Great Britain will be joined in the grand final by New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, France and South Africa.
The United States, Spain, Samoa and Canada finished outside the top eight and will face four teams from the challenger series in a promotion-relegation event in Madrid to determine next season's core teams.
In the women's tournament, New Zealand clinched top spot in the standings after a hat-trick of tries by Michaela Blyde helped them to a convincing victory over Australia.
In a clash between the top two teams, the Black Ferns trailed 14-5 late in the first half but scored four tries to win their fourth straight tournament after victories in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
France finished third in Singapore and in the standings after a 29-7 victory over Fiji. - AFP