Victorious All Blacks sevens coach Clark Laidlaw - we raced to title despite lack of speed

Clark Laidlaw, team and trophy in Cape Town. Photo / Photosport

All Blacks sevens coach Clark Laidlaw says a tournament victory has come sooner than he anticipated.

New Zealand had gone 21 months without a world series tournament victory before before easily beating Argentina in the final in South Africa today.

Laidlaw's outfit made the final in Dubai last week where they were thrashed by South Africa, but got their revenge on the Blitzboks in the Cape Town semifinal.

"I'm not sure if we were expecting it - it's come a bit sooner than we thought. It's very pleasing," said Scot Laidlaw, on his team's progress in the last two weeks.

"We were pretty lucky with the group we've got, no brand new players, got a real mix (of experience), a lot of confidence out of last weekend."

Laidlaw - appointed just over a year ago to replace the sevens icon Gordon Tietjens - said the win over South Africa was "awesome".

"We were under the pump for periods, but felt we could move them around," he said.

"There were a few decisions against us which made it quite difficult. They're not superhuman, it gave us confidence...they can be beaten especially here in South Africa."

Laidlaw told the Radio Sport Breakfast that New Zealand lacked the outright speed of players such as American flyer Perry Baker.

It was up to the coaches to find ways of compensating for that "(through) anticipation, reading play and decision making".