England beat Fiji 28-26 and retained the Dubai Sevens rugby title on Friday in the season-opening leg of the World Series.
Led by its latest sevens recruit and player of the tournament, winger Tom Varndell, and the experienced Ben Gollings, England rallied twice to spoil Fiji's plans to avenge defeat in last year's final.
Fiji opened its account in the second minute through the brilliant Jone Daunivucu, who earlier scored a last-minute try in the quarterfinals for his team to upset top-seeded New Zealand 17-14.
Varndell, who scored a tournament-leading 10 tries, side-stepped Epeli Dranivasa and Vima Tuidraki before touching down and leveling at 7-7.
Fiji went ahead in the fifth minute through a Mika Leawere try, but back-to-back Gollings tries with help from Henry Paul, and a remarkable sideline conversion lifted England ahead by 28-19 with just more than a minute left. It was time enough only for a consolation Fiji seven-pointer by William Ryder.
England scraped into the final after Simon Amor converted almost on the whistle following a Varndell try for a 7-5 semifinal win over Samoa. Samoa dominated the first half but couldn't break England's defense until Henry Bryce's try at the start of the second.
"There was no way we would have given this away after the way we played against Samoa," said Varndell. "It's been a great start for us in the season, but we now need to look forward to the Georgia tournament."
England coach Mike Friday praised Gollings and Varndell.
"Varndell has a fantastic future ahead of him and Gollings always rises to the occasion," he said.
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