On 27 July 2014, South Africa stunned New Zealand in the Glasgow final of the rugby sevens to end the Kiwis’ 30-match unbeaten run at the Commonwealth Games.

New Zealand had won gold at every Games since the sport’s debut in 1998, but the South Africans had too much pace and class for the defending champions, outscoring them by three tries to two.

Sherwin Stowers scored New Zealand’s first try, before Seabelo Senatla went over for his 10th and 11th tries of the tournament either side of half time to give SA a 12-7 lead.

Cecil Afrika raced in from the halfway line to extend the South Africans’ advantage to 10 points, proving too much for the Kiwis to haul in despite a late touchdown from Joe Webber.

It was Neil Powell’s first appearance at the Games as national sevens coach, and the triumph in Glasgow set him up to guide the Blitzboks’ to back-to-back Sevens World Series titles (2016-17, 2017-18) and a bronze-medal finish at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

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