Paris Sevens: South Africa win World Series title in dramatic finale

Paris Sevens live stream : After six months, ten tournaments and over 2,700 tries, the men's Sevens World Series title was decided by the final game in Paris.

South Africa, who went into the tournament seven points adrift of Fiji, faced England in the last match of the season knowing a win would see them take the spoils.

In a rain-soaked Stade Jean-Bouin on Sunday, the Blitzboks duly delivered -- winning the Cup Final 24-14 and successfully defending their championship crown.

It was a cruel blow for Fiji, who suffered a shock defeat to England in the quarterfinals and had to watch on in Paris as their Series lead slipped away, despite having won five of the previous six tournaments.

Tries from Werner Kok, Ryan Oosthuizen and Dewald Human saw the Blitzboks come from behind and achieve a remarkable double -- something the players could only have dreamed of at the start of the weekend.

"At the beginning of the tournament we said that we're not going to focus on the results, we want to go out and play some fantastic rugby and it's out of our hands -- we can only control the controllable," said South Africa captain Phil Snyman.

"I still can't believe we managed to crawl [it] back, but all honor to God and all honor to the team, I think they played phenomenal rugby."

Paris Sevens: Fiji and South Africa fight for Series Crown

The 2018 Paris Sevens will be the final stop on the 2017/18 HSBC World Sevens Series. The grand finale of this season will be held at the iconic Stade Jean Bouin from the June 9-10. It will be held concurrently, beside the Women’s competition which begins on Friday.

It will be another great weekend, as have all nine previous tournaments on the World Series circuit. Yet Fiji and South Africa will fight for the series crown, as those two teams have the highest points going into this deciding final round.

The South Seas islanders have a seven point advantage over the Blitzboks. It means, for Fiji to win back the crown, they will need to just finish in third place; that’s if the Boks win in Paris. Fiji finishes any lower though, then South Africa could go back-to-back – but that is aside from the point.

Winning in France, that is the goal. It might be a ‘showdown’ between the number one and two teams, but all men’s teams who run out on Saturday will be doing the same. Aiming to end the regular season on a high.

With that known, with the scenario of who could finish as the top ranked side after the 2018 Paris Sevens, it is up to the collective strengths of each of the 16 teams to reach deep within.

Like the main picture illustrates, in 2016/17 it was the season that South Africa ‘aced’. They finished the series in style. So the real question is, can Fiji complete the task? Can they show that recent form is a consistent level? [like many have presumed].

This weekend will prove if depth, attitude and desire will see either Fiji or South Africa giving team mates a high-five come Sunday night.