New Zealand skipper DJ Forbes lifts the silverware following his side's victory over England in the final of the Glasgow 7s © PA Photos

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Features: Finishing on a high

Teams: England | New Zealand

New Zealand edged nearer a 10th HSBC Sevens World Series title with a 29-14 victory over England in the final of the penultimate event of the season in Glasgow.

With title rivals Fiji only able to finish third after losing to England in the semi-finals, New Zealand will go into the season-ending London Sevens next weekend needing only to reach the Plate final to retain their Series crown.

Tries from Tim Mikkelson and captain DJ Forbes helped give New Zealand a 12-7 cushion at the break with a try from James Rodwell keeping England in the contest. That lead grew when Ardie Savea touched down a minute into the second half but back came England with another try from Dan Norton. However, there was to be no denying New Zealand with Lote Raikabula and Forbes crossing to put the result beyond doubt.

New Zealand now have 150 points with Fiji on 139. England's run to the final has lifted them above South Africa into third on 123 with the Blitzbokke (115), Samoa (114) and Australia (99) completing the top six.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand had beat Argentina (36-5) and Australia (22-7), winners of the last event in Tokyo, to reach the final, while England battled past South Africa (19-14) and then needed an extra time try by Mat Turner to beat Fiji (26-21). The Fijians bounced back from that disappointment to beat Australia (31-17) in the 3rd place play-off and minimise the damage in the Series standings.

Elsewhere, Tom Iosefo scored his second hat-trick of the day as Samoa beat Wales 31-12 in the Plate final to claim their first piece of silverware under new coach Faamoni Lalomilo. Samoa had earlier seen their hopes of a second Cup title of the season blown to shreds by a dominant second half performance by Fiji who claimed a 34-10 victory in their quarter-final clash. But they then went try-crazy themselves, running in seven tries - three of them by Iosefo - to overwhelm an injury-hit South Africa 47-0 in the Plate semi-finals. Wales saw their push for Cup glory ended by Australia who claimed a 17-7 victory in their quarter-final tie.

Russia got better with every match in Glasgow and were rewarded with a 33-19 victory over Spain in the Bowl final. Yury Gostyuzhev, Alexander Yanyuskin, Ivan Kotov, Vladimir Ostroushko and Igor Galinovskiy scored the tries for Henry Paul's team. A below-strength Kenya also finished the tournament on a high with a 22-14 victory over USA in the Shield final.