Late All Blacks Sevens’ try earns them spot in Rugby World Cup final

Ngarohi McGarvey-Black scored a hat-trick as New Zealand edged a plucky Ireland to book their spot in the Rugby World Cup Sevens final.

McGarvey-Black scored all three of New Zealand’s tries as they snuck past Ireland 17-10 in Sunday night’s semifinal (NZ time).

New Zealand will take on Fiji, who beat Australia 38-14 in the other semifinal, in Monday’s final at 6.54am (NZT).

The result keeps New Zealand in the running to make it three straight World Cup men’s titles, having also triumphed in 2018 and 2013.

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It was one-way traffic to start the game for the All Blacks Sevens. They couldn’t have asked for a better start, making Ireland pay for coughing up possession. They scored an early try through McGarvey-Black, having too many numbers out wide.

He then added a double, making it two tries in as many minutes and giving New Zealand an early 10-0 lead.

New Zealand were reduced to six players late in the first half after Moses Leo tackled an Irish attacker without the ball.

Ireland made New Zealand pay with the man overlap, scoring out wide thanks to Jack Kelly, cutting their lead to 10-5 at halftime.

The Irish made it back-to-back tries, starting the second half with a five pointer to Andrew Smith – punishing New Zealand with Leo still in the sinbin.

After relentless pressure and phases, New Zealand hammered the Irish try line.

Leo went closing to scoring, but had the ball punched out of his hands as he dived over to plant the ball down, forcing a five-metre scrum.

New Zealand couldn’t be denied with McGarvey-Black breaking out of a tackle close to the line to score the decisive try with a minute to go.