Rokococo makes a name for himself

Joe Rokococo, a 19-year-old from Auckland, rounded off New Zealand's sixth tournament win of this season's 11-round World Sevens Series here yesterday.

The rangy schoolboy ran in two tries in the All Blacks' crushing 54-14 victory in a disappointing final over a lacklustre and outclassed South Africa. The win underlines the superiority of the New Zealanders, who had already secured the overall title – and there is still a round to play in Cardiff next week.

At least a couple of the northern-hemisphere sides, England and Wales, fanned the flames of the London leg of the International Board's World Sevens Series. The only problem was that the fires were all too quickly put out.

England went from seventh heaven to sevens hell yesterday when, after turning in a thunderous performance against Australia to reach the semi-finals, they ran up against a sharper South Africa and were outplayed. They also underperformed.

Any hopes England might have harboured of a repeat of their Hong Kong triumph of a few weeks ago were snuffed out from the first minute, when Horrie Muller was allowed too much space. Thereafter they had to play catch-up, but at least they had contributed to some excitement for the home fans. They remain on course to claim the third or fourth seeding for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in August, depending on how well they do next weekend in Cardiff.

Things had only really warmed up in the quarter-finals, with three of the four ties providing great entertainment and only the first, a tense affair between New Zealand and Samoa, petering out into a poor match.

Wales managed to reach the semi-finals for only the second time. Sadly, they could not sustain the momentum in their semi, the effort in getting there having clearly drained them. New Zealand were just too experienced and gifted, as the 29-0 score suggested.

South Africa won a thriller in extra time against Fiji, the one-time kings of the short game, who were without Waisale Serevi, the master of the art of sevens.

Then it was England's turn and they had the big crowd – around 20,500 by late afternoon – veering between jeering and cheering as they let the Wallabies in for an early try, hit back, went ahead, then let Australia nose in front.

But the Antipodean nose was soon put out of joint when Henry Paul gave full rein to his skills. He steps off either foot, reaches top speed from a standing start, and when going backwards with opponents bearing down on him can explode through a gap and tear upfield before offloading.

He did it twice in the quarter-final. The first time he set Paul Sampson free, and then he started the move that saw Josh Lewsey race over for his fourth try of the series so far.