South Africa brought one of the longest and most impressive winning streaks in sport to a shuddering halt in the final at Ibrox last night as they beat New Zealand 17-12 in the final to take the Commonwealth Sevens crown.

The All Blacks had never lost a Commonwealth sevens tie since the sport was introduced at the Kuala Lumpur games in 1998. Over the course of 16 years they had clocked up four gold medals and 30 wins, but they looked vulnerable against a Springboks side who had been the fittest and fastest side at the Glasgow event.

New Zealand opened the scoring in the final with a try by Sherwin Stowers after four minutes, but they were left exposed when Bryce Heem was yellow carded for a professional foul.

Seabelo Senatla, the tournament's top try-scorer with 11 touchdowns, exploited the situation to get the first South Africa try just before the break. He then added another early in the second half. New Zealand narrowed the gap with a late score by Joe Webber, but they eventually ran out of time.

In the second-tier Plate final, England beat Wales 17-15, while Sri Lanka took the Shield.