South Africa celebrate making it two from two after beating New Zealand in the final of the IRB Sevens event in George © Getty Images

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Teams: New Zealand | South Africa

It has not been the ideal start to the IRB Sevens Series for reigning champions New Zealand but coach Gordon Tietjens is confident his current side have the potential to match the lofty standards set by their predecessors.

South Africa are setting the standard in this series, winning the opening round in Dubai last weekend and coming from behind overnight to beat defending champions New Zealand 12-7 in their own tournament at George. It is the first time South Africa have successive rounds in the series and their maiden win on home soil.

They lead the standings on 40 points ahead of New Zealand, who were knocked out by England in the Dubai semi-finals, on 28. England, 24, Fiji, 24 and Argentina, 16, complete the top five.

Tietjens said he was pleased with the improvement the players showed since Dubai. "It was a close final and a couple of mistakes came back to haunt us. That's the nature of sevens rugby and you pay the penalty for that," Tietjens said.

"I thought we had pretty good tournament here -- we improved so much on Dubai and to come out and nearly win it, I'm pretty proud of my players. It's pretty promising looking ahead. We have got Wellington (February 6-7) coming up now and it's a big tournament for us. We need to get on the winner's table there."

New Zealand scored first through skipper DJ Forbes but Renfred Dazel snatched one back at the end of a tight first half with New Zealand leading 7-5.

South Africa camped out for much of the second period in the opposition 22 but New Zealand's famous defence held firm. The winner came through Mzwandile Stick who jinked through the defence with two minutes left on the clock.

Following their first ever success on home soil, South Africa coach Paul Treu lauded his side who are now unbeaten since last year's final tournament of the season in Edinburgh. "I'm almost speechless - 10 years is a long time and it really took a massive effort from our players.

"We know that New Zealand are always going to play physical and we wanted to get stuck in, keep our composure and chase them down. It was the first time ever that we've seen such a big support for the team and you could feel it in the air - the people, their body language, they really wanted this team to win and we've really drawn a lot of energy from the crowd."

New Zealand have dominated the world series, winning eight of nine editions with Fiji the only other nation to notch a win.