England have upset home favourite South Africa 19-17 in the final of Cape Town’s rugby sevens, with the hosts missing a last-second conversion to force extra time.

Werner Kok scored in the left corner as the final hooter sounded but Justin Geduld missed the sideline kick – the last act of the game.

The teams scored three tries each and the critical moment turned out to be England captain Tom Mitchell’s conversion of Ruaridh McConnochie’s try. That put them seven points ahead and meant South Africa needed the seven-pointer to stay alive.

Earlier on Sunday, Australia lost 21-17 to Argentina in the consolation semi-finals.

Andy Friend’s men started the day with a 42-12 win over minnows Uganda but failed to apply critical pressure against the South Americans when they had the advantage, and allowed them back into the match.

The side had been left “very disappointed” with the whole weekend, Friend said.

“We made too many simple errors in our game against Argentina. When we should be showing composure, we’re not. We are not working together as a unit at the moment which is disappointing.

“We said at the start of this year that we wanted to make the quarter finals of every tournament,” he added.

“We didn’t make this one, therefore it is unacceptable.”