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Inspired by the in-form Seabelo Senatla, the Springbok Sevens defeated Kenya 38-14 in the Plate Final of the Marriot London Sevens at Twickenham to finish the HSBC Sevens World Series in second place behind New Zealand.
The speedster was in superb form and his three tries against Kenya was in fact his second hat-trick of the day after he led his team to a thrilling 24-17 comeback victory against Samoa in the semi-finals. He finished the tournament as the top try scorer after collecting an impressive 13 tries over two days.
The Springbok Sevens were missing Kyle Brown, Cecil Afrika and Stephan Dippenaar, while Werner Kok also suffered a leg injury on Sunday.
South Africa lost 32-5 against rivals New Zealand in the quarterfinals and had to dig deep against Samoa, who led halftime 17-0. However, a hat-trick by Senatla and a try by Philip Snyman paved the way for a Plate Final showdown with Kenya.
Kenya defeated South Africa in the Plate semis last week in Scotland and the Springbok Sevens were in no mood to suffer a similar feat on Sunday at Twickenham.
Senatla opened the scoring and he was quickly followed by Kwagga Smith and Frankie Horne, enabling the Blitzboks to enjoy a halftime lead of 19-7. Senatla then scored a quick brace after the break, while Jamba Ulengo also added his name to the scorers list.
Afterwards, Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell said he was proud of the way his team fought back after their loss against New Zealand.
“We set high standards for ourselves and the players wanted to show they can play much better,” said Powell. “We showed good fighting spirit against Samoa after a poor first half. Against Kenya we controlled the match from the start and scored a deserved win,” said Powell.
Powell, in his first full season in charge, led the Blitzboks to two Cup titles – in Port Elizabeth and Las Vegas – and his outfit also played in five consecutive Cup Finals.
•New Zealand won the HSBC Sevens World Series title for a fourth consecutive year after finishing the season on 180 points.
The Springbok Sevens finished second on 152 points.
The final World Series standings after the Marriott London Sevens:
1. New Zealand 180 points
2. South Africa 152
3. Fiji 144
4. England 134
5. Australia 116
**Fijian flyer Samisoni Viriviri has been announced as the 2014 IRB Sevens Player of the Year, in association with HSBC.
Viriviri's name was called out at a function following the Marriott London Sevens at Twickenham, the final round of the 2013/14 HSBC Sevens World Series won by New Zealand.
He becomes the first Fijian to win the award since it was first presented in 2004, having finished the season with 52 tries.
Viriviri beat fellow nominees Kyle Brown (South Africa), Tim Mikkelson (New Zealand) and Tom Mitchell (England) after the outstanding quartet had been shortlisted by the management teams of the 15 core sides who compete at all nine rounds of the World Series.
