In what will be the last ever sevens at the iconic Hong Kong Stadium ahead of a move to a new home at Kai Tak, the Kiwis got the job done on two fronts as the women demolished the USA and the men got the job done opposite the French.

The 36-7 win for the women saw them top the current SVNS standings, edging ahead of their arch Aussie rivals on points difference. It was also their second Hong Kong win in successive years, which is something Shiray Kaka was more than happy to celebrate.

In the aftermath of the win – and after giving her medal to a stunned (and delighted) young fan – the New Zealand star said: “Hear this crowd man, that’s what it means. I can’t even focus, it’s unreal!

“we’re just lucky in New Zealand to have so many young people coming up and they’re just rugby players, already footballers, because this is what we are.

“Oh my gosh, we’ve got Mahina (Paul) on the bench, she’s one of the fastest in our team, and she’s coming from my spot. So I’m like, ‘I need to pick my S-H-I-T up, because she’s coming for my spot. So we don’t actually just have competition in the world, it is competition at home with us too. So yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

The men meanwhile held out against France 10-7, to take their first series gold of the season. The win takes them to fifth, with France a single log point ahead of them.

Talking on the pitch in Hong Kong, Tone Ng Shiu spoke of how the rise in standards can now be maintained all the way to the Olympic Games in Paris.

He said: “It’s a mentality thing we practice over and over in training. So making sure that we come over here and being composed and we stayed on it.

“I think for us, this is definitely a stepping stone. We didn’t do too well in the last tournaments but hopefully we can just keep rising to peak by the time the Olympics comes.”

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