Superb Samoan passing carried their side to a stunning 26-19 victory over New Zealand in the final of the IRB Las Vegas Sevens on Monday (NZT).
New Zealand retained their lead in the series with 92 points while Fiji was second on 87, South Africa was third with 76 and England was on 74. The next round of the series is in Hong Kong starting on March 23.
Samoa's winning try was scored by Alafoti Faosiliva in the final play of the match after the scores were tied at 19-19. A scrum had been called a fraction of a second before the final hooter and Samoa used it to advantage to set up the winning try.
It was their first final win in two years and capitalised on some outstanding passing and handling which stretched New Zealand from side to side throughout the game.
New Zealand down 5-19 came back with moments of brilliance from stalwarts Tomasi Cama and Lote Raikabula resulting in tries for Cama and Ardie Savea, respectively.
But it was the ability of the Samoans to secure the ball in vital phases that shut down New Zealand who increased their error rate as the intensity increased.
Faosiliva scored the first try for his side and then Paul Perez capitalised on a failed New Zealand double round move to score the second. Charles Piutau scored New Zealand's first try after two quick penalties but Faatoina Autagavaia opened the scoring in the second half to give his side a vital edge.
Samoa qualified when beating Fiji 14-12 in a thrilling contest which was Samoa's first win over their Pacific rivals in seven clashes while New Zealand beat South Africa 20-7.
The first try in the semi-final came from a breakdown by South Africa in the New Zealand 22m area. Raikabula secured the ball, broke and fed Tim Mikkelson on a strong run to the line. He was tackled just short of the line where Bryce Heem was on hand to take the ball at the breakdown and race over to score.
Piutau then broke the South African defence and fed Cama who found himself in space. He headed towards the line and although the flying Cecil Afrika was in hot pursuit, Cama managed to go over in the corner.
Then after the halftime whistle had sounded and South Africa had played the ball, they made the mistake of leaving the ball unattended at a breakdown and it was Raikabula who reached through to claim the ball, feed Piutau who was grabbed just short of the line. He maintained his footing and off-loaded to Mark Jackman who had been in support all the way.
Heem survived an obstruction charge with only a penalty awarded, and as South Africa attempted to move the ball in the resulting play an intercept was made by Piutau. He was prevented from going all the way and South Africa recovered.
However, the New Zealanders were just as determined in defence and as the error count went against South Africa 7-2 it was a cork-screwing move to get out of South African tackle attempts that saw captain DJ Forbes get over in the corner to seal the game for New Zealand.
South Africa's solitary reward was a try, after the final hooter to Branco du Preez.