New Zealand have taken a giant stride towards the IRB World Sevens title after beating England 29-14 in the Cup final of the inaugural Glasgow Sevens event.
The win increases their lead to 11 points over closest rivals Fiji with one round remaining _ the London Sevens at Twickenham next weekend. New Zealand need only reach the quarter-finals to win the overall title.
New Zealand have 150 points, with Fiji on 139. England's run to the final lifted them above South Africa into third place on 123. Captain DJ Forbes scored a double in the final, while Tim Mikkelson, Lote Raikubula and Ardie Savea also scored for New Zealand.
"It's awesome to win here, it probably gives us a better chance to win our title back,'' coach Gordon Tietjens said. "It's important to get points going into the last tournament. It's not there yet though, we've still got a bit of work to do.''
The only blight on the weekend was a serious injury to Bryce Heem who was taken off on a stretcher late in the first half of the final.
Forbes added: "Potentially we've got one hand on the World Series Trophy at the moment but we've still got to do a job next week.''
