New Zealand continued their domination of sevens rugby by beating South Africa in the final of the Hong Kong Sevens, all but sealing an eighth world title in nine years.

Their 26-12 win stretches their record streak of match wins in the IRB Sevens World Series to 42 and they have also won a record seven tournaments in succession.

The win over South Africa, the team they beat in the United States final last month, takes New Zealand to 110 points at the top of the sevens standings, a massive 38 clear of second-placed South Africa.

"We're proud of our victory and the way we've done it," New Zealand skipper DJ Forbes said.

"We've been telling everyone we pride ourselves on our defence.... We really did a lot of hard work this year and it's shown," he added.

He said the side would be pushing to go unbeaten for the season. "We'll definitely try our hardest. We don't want to rest on Hong Kong."

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens agreed that strong defence was a major factor in a long-overdue win in Hong Kong, where the team had not triumphed since 2001.

South African skipper Neil Powell described New Zealand as "special", saying they deserved to be ranked as one of the best ever.

"Their record speaks for itself and they're just a great side," he said, adding that there were areas in which his team needed to improve.

New Zealand dominated possession in the final, with Lote Raikabula going over for the first try just after the minute mark, which was converted.

Minutes later, Raikabula broke through the South African defence, feeding Steven Yates, who scored. The successful conversion gave New Zealand a 14-0 lead.

South Africa fought their way back into the match through a Mzwandile Stick try, which was converted, but on the stroke of half-time Raikabula went over for his second score and a successful conversion made it 21-7.

After the break New Zealand were quickly on the attack again and Zar Lawrence scored near the corner within two minutes, further stretching the lead.

Fabian Juries crossed the line for South Africa after the hooter to give the scoreline some respectability.

Earlier, New Zealand proved too strong for Fiji in the semi-finals, thumping the nine-times winners 34-0.

Defending champions Samoa crashed out to South Africa 12-10 in a tight affair, despite a sensational drop goal by Lolo Lui from near the half-way line midway through the second half.

Hong Kong threw away their chance to shine at home when they lost 35-7 to Zimbabwe in the bowl semi-finals.

France won the plate while Russia won the bowl competition.

The final day of the tournament was watched by a capacity crowd of 40,000 international fans who brought a wild carnival atmosphere to the Hong Kong Stadium.

New Zealand have swept all before them this season, winning in Dubai, South Africa, New Zealand, the United States and now Hong Kong.

The IRB Sevens World Series moves on to its sixth leg in Adelaide on April 5-6, before the season ends with events in London and Edinburgh.

AFP