NZ scrape through first games

Both men’s and women’s NZ Sevens teams needed late comebacks to avoid tembarrassing first-out losses in the opening day of the revamped World Series in Dubai last night. Captain Sarah Hirini scored a 70m try on the buzzer as the Black Ferns scraped past South Africa 19-14 and the All Blacks came from 21-12 down in the last three minutes to beat Canada 26-21. Go to stuff.co.nz for more overnight action.