First World Sevens title '˜unbelievable' says matchwinner Fife

A last-gasp try from Edinburgh Rugby's Dougie Fife earned Scotland their first ever HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series title as they defeated South Africa 27-26 at Twickenham.

Dougie Fife celebrates scoring the winning try with Scott Riddell

The Scots had never been to a seven series final before and found themselves 26-15 down in the closing stages before two late tries, both scored by Fife and the second coming after time had expired, delivered a historic success for Calum McRae’s team.

They set up a showdown with the Proteas earlier in the day in similar fashion as another pair of late scores from Fife in the semi-finals saw off the United States, who won at Twickenham 12 months earlier.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Fife said. “This team have come a long way, we truly believe we can beat anyone on our day and today we showed that. I think we surprised a few people.”

The Scots started the day with a 17-0 quarter-final success over England, who subsequently lost to New Zealand in the plate semi-finals, before Fife’s semi-final tries saw them progress to a meeting with South Africa.

Scotland were 10-7 ahead at the break after Scott Wight dotted down from an innovative driving maul that caught the South Africans out.

They responded with tries from Rosko Specman and Cecil Afrika and, even after James Fleming scorrd a try, another try from Specman looked to have killed Scotland off before Fife’s late heroics.

“I’m very, very proud of the guys,” McRae added.