AP – Australia broke through for their maiden tournament win in the 2011/12 rugby sevens competition on Sunday, prevailing 28-26 over Samoa in the Tokyo final.
The Australians had previously struggled in the sevens series – which is played over nine rounds at different venues – with a fourth-place finish in the opening round on the Gold Coast their previous best result.
However, success finally came in dramatic fashion in the final of the seventh round in Japan.
Matt Lucas scored a late conversion that gave Australia their most important victory to date.
Lucas slotted a long-range conversion with 23 seconds remaining after Australia captain Ed Jenkins crossed to level the score.
The result drags Australia (84 points) up to No.5 on the International Rugby Board’s overall sevens world series rankings.
Traditional powerhouses New Zealand (128 points) and Fiji (122) remain the series’ front runners after seven of nine tournaments.
South Africa (105 points) are third, one point ahead of England.
Australia beat England 33-12 in the their semi-final after getting 11 points from Allan Fa’alava’au, while Alatasi Tupou scored a sudden-death extra time try as Samoa beat New Zealand 17-12 in the other semi-final.
The series resumes in Scotland on May 5-6.