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England won an incredible final in sudden-death extra time against New Zealand 31-26 to claim the Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham.

The Cup title is England's first on home soil for five years and means that South Africa will have to wait another week before celebrating winning the IRB Sevens World Series. After England's fine win, their second this year, South Africa lead them by 20 points in the race for the overall title.

New Zealand were quickly into their stride in the final and scored three unanswered tries through Julian Savea (2) and Kurt Baker, leaving England with it all to do.

Ben Ryan's side needed to score first after the break and did so through powerful wing Uche Oduoza. Gollings converted to make the score 19-7 and Mickey Young's score brought it to 19-12.

England captitalised on a period of sustained pressure to pull level, James Rodwell breaking through the defence to score under the posts, but Zar Lawrence capped a superb personal performance to pull the Kiwis ahead again, 26-19.

With the seconds counting down New Zealand seemed to have both hands on the Cup, but replacement wing Dan Norton streaked down the line and under the posts. Ben Gollings converted to pull England level, take his own all-time Sevens tally to 2,000 points and the match into sudden-death extra time.

With the 36,000 strong crowd on the edge of its seat, England pressed deep into Kiwi territory and when the forwards won a scrum against the head, scrum half Mickey Young sprinted to the corner to clinch a famous victory.

Earlier New Zealand beat South Africa 10-5 in the Cup semis to postpone any World Series celebrations for the Boks. Solomon King and Kurt Baker scored the Kiwis' tries to Gio Aplon's effort.

England overcame auld enemy Scotland 26-12 to reach the final. Ollie Phillips and Tom Biggs put them 14-0 up but Colin Gregor and John Houston hit back with tries to make it 14-12 at half time. England responded to the home crowd after the break, Greg Barden crossing for their third try and Ben Gollings turning in a magical try-scoring performance to cap the win.

In the quarter-finals the hosts ran out a comfortable 26-12 win against the Aussies to book their place against Scotland. The Scots had earlier come from behind in dramatic scenes to beat Porutgal by a single point, while South Africa overcame France 21-5 thanks to tries from Zangqa, Stick, and Benjamin. New Zealand saw off the threat of their old rivals Fiji, 33-14, with Kurt Baker’s impressive hat-trick making the difference.

Fiji took the Plate, beating France 24-10, and crowd favourites Kenya took out Wales 12-7 to take the Bowl. In the all-North American Shield Final clash it was Canada who put USA to the sword with a 27-7 win on what proved to be another memorable day at the IRB Sevens.

Day 2 London Sevens: As it Happened