Sixth sevens series so close

Nigel Hunt holds the trophy aloft after his team won the Los Angeles sevens in California yesterday. Picture / Reuters

New Zealand have all-but secured their sixth straight IRB sevens series crown after cruising to the Los Angeles tournament title yesterday.

With three rounds in the seven-leg series remaining, New Zealand have scorched 20 points clear of nearest rivals Fiji after a third-straight tournament win, coasting past Argentina 34-5 in the final at Carson, California.

The last remaining challenge for New Zealand this year is winning the Sevens World Cup at Hong Kong next month, which would make them the first two-times winners of the title.

They will start firm favourites at Hong Kong such has been the ease of victory in each of the last three IRB tournaments - at South Africa before Christmas, Wellington last weekend and Los Angeles.

They have barely been pushed since their series-opening semifinal loss to Fiji at Dubai more than two months ago and will be even more formidable when coach Gordon Tietjens adds a smattering of Super 12 players to his squad for Hong Kong.

Tietjens will be loathe to break up a squad who performed superbly this weekend, romping through pool play and disposing of Fiji 21-7 in the quarter-finals and Australia 31-12 in a semifinal they led 24-0 at halftime.

The New Zealanders barely missed injured stars from the Wellington tournament Liam Messam and Roy Kinikinilau, their six-tries-to-one victory achieved with the same ease as the final against the same opponents a week earlier.

Tafai Ioasa did much of the hard work of the absent Messam, ending the tournament with four tries, including two in the final each side of halftime. Nigel Hunt also bagged a double in the final while Tamati Ellison and outstanding stand-in captain Orene Ai'i scored the others, much to the delight of a healthy New Zealand contingent in the crowd.

Tietjens knew his side would have to play well to beat the improving Argentines, who snared their first IRB sevens title at Los Angeles last year.

"I'm very proud of my guys," Tietjens said on the tournament website. "These things don't win themselves, the players dedicate themselves to training hard, eating right, all the things you need to do to be the best. Three in a row is great, but it comes with a lot of sweat and tears."

Argentina were without the speedy Santiago Gomez Cora, suspended for 10 days for biting Ellison in the Wellington final, yet continued their rise up the sevens pecking order.

They beat a disappointing England 17-0 in the semifinals and survived a tough 7-5 quarter-final against South Africa.

The World Cup in Hong Kong is not part of the IRB sevens series, which resumes in April in Singapore. The final two rounds are in London and Paris in early June.

Sevens standings

New Zealand 72
Fiji 52
Argentina 50
England 48
South Africa 36
Australia 26

- NZPA