New Zealand became the first men's team in history to win back-to-back World Cup Sevens crowns on Sunday, completing a clean sweep of titles with a 33-12 defeat of England in the final in San Francisco.
The New Zealanders - who beat England to win the last tournament in 2013 in Moscow - once again proved too strong for the English, outscoring their opponents by five tries to two.
The victory completed a golden weekend in San Francisco for New Zealand after their women successfully defended their own sevens title on Saturday.
New Zealand's men and women's teams now hold world titles in both seven-a-side and 15-a-side versions of the game.
New Zealand co-captain Scott Curry, who missed the 2013 victory breaking his hand shortly before the tournament, was ecstatic following the win.
"It was real disappointing for me last time, so to come to San Francisco and play the way we did, I'm just really proud," Curry said.
Curry said the New Zealand men had taken inspiration from the women's victory 24 hours earlier.
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"We were really proud of the girls. It's awesome to emulate what they did and go back-to-back for the first time ever," he said. "It's good to go home with two World Cups."
The New Zealanders, who had stunned Olympic champions Fiji to reach the final, took the lead in the opening minute, when Sione Molia burst through weak English tackling to score under the posts.
Molia then grabbed a second try moments later, burrowing over from close range to cap a dominant start.
England hit back on the stroke of half-time when Mike Ellery found space inside the 22 from Dan Norton's pass for a converted score which made it 14-7 at the break.
New Zealand were soon threatening again after the restart and Joe Ravouvou took them into a 19-7 lead when he easily beat Norton on the outside for a try in the corner.
Ruaridh McConnochie gave England hope of a fightback after dotting down in the corner following Harry Glover's break.
But New Zealand upped the tempo and finished off with two more tries from Akuila Rokolisoa and Traell Joass to secure New Zealand's third outright victory in the tournament.
The New Zealanders had earlier reached the final after a clinical 22-17 defeat of Olympic champions Fiji in the semi-finals.
England meanwhile had reached the final after a surprisingly one-sided 29-7 win over South Africa in the last four.
England coach Simon Amor admitted however his side had been unable to reproduce their best form in the final.
"Of course to be in a World Cup final you want to lift it, you want to be winning it," Amor said.
"Unfortunately we didn't play our best in the final game, we got some errors just dropped in at critical moments, but overall I loved the way we still stuck in and played some great rugby."
England captain Tom Mitchell said defeat in the final was bittersweet.
"Right now I am pretty sore, and pretty gutted,' he said. "We came here expecting to be amongst it and really wanting to be World Champions - that is the stuff you dream about. We were there in the final after a lot of ups and downs this season.
"I am super proud to get to that point, but it means it hurts more as we worked so hard to get there."
New Zealand's win brought the curtain down on a successful first ever Rugby World Cup event on US soil, with more than 102,000 spectators attending the three days of the event.
Elsewhere Sunday, Samoa's campaign ended in disgrace with player Gordon Langkilde thrown out of the tournament for his part in a tunnel bust-up following Saturday's defeat to Wales.
Wales player Tom Williams suffered a tournament-ending injury in the attack which Welsh players described as "unprovoked."
World Rugby said in a statement they were investigating the incident.
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
Meghan%20podcast
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
if you go
The flights
Emirates fly direct from Dubai to Houston, Texas, where United have direct flights to Managua. Alternatively, from October, Iberia will offer connections from Madrid, which can be reached by both Etihad from Abu Dhabi and Emirates from Dubai.
The trip
Geodyssey’s (Geodyssey.co.uk) 15-night Nicaragua Odyssey visits the colonial cities of Leon and Granada, lively country villages, the lake island of Ometepe and a stunning array of landscapes, with wildlife, history, creative crafts and more. From Dh18,500 per person, based on two sharing, including transfers and tours but excluding international flights. For more information, visit visitnicaragua.us.
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THE DETAILS
Kaala
Dir: Pa. Ranjith
Starring: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Easwari Rao, Nana Patekar
Rating: 1.5/5
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.
Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
WHAT%20ARE%20THE%20PRODUCTS%20WITHIN%20THE%20THREE%20MAJOR%20CATEGORIES%3F
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
THE%20SWIMMERS
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Fight card
Preliminaries:
Nouredine Samir (UAE) v Sheroz Kholmirzav (UZB); Lucas Porst (SWE) v Ellis Barboza (GBR); Mouhmad Amine Alharar (MAR) v Mohammed Mardi (UAE); Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) v Spyro Besiri (GRE); Aslamjan Ortikov (UZB) v Joshua Ridgwell (GBR)
Main card:
Carlos Prates (BRA) v Dmitry Valent (BLR); Bobirjon Tagiev (UZB) v Valentin Thibaut (FRA); Arthur Meyer (FRA) v Hicham Moujtahid (BEL); Ines Es Salehy (BEL) v Myriame Djedidi (FRA); Craig Coakley (IRE) v Deniz Demirkapu (TUR); Artem Avanesov (ARM) v Badreddine Attif (MAR); Abdulvosid Buranov (RUS) v Akram Hamidi (FRA)
Title card:
Intercontinental Lightweight: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) v Angel Marquez (ESP)
Intercontinental Middleweight: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) v Francesco Iadanza (ITA)
Asian Featherweight: Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) v Phillip Delarmino (PHI)
Listen to Extra Time
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