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England snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a dramatic finale of the Wellington Sevens after another sensational day of rugby.

The result sees New Zealand and England move level into second place on the International Rugby Board standings through three rounds on 44 points, with leaders South Africa now just four points clear.

With New Zealand leading 17-12 and both sides reduced to six men, England stopped a promising New Zealand attack and surged 60m themselves, creating an overlap for jubilant forward Isoa Damudamu to cross next to the posts.

Veteran halfback Ben Gollings calmly slotted the winning conversion and silenced a previously raucous Westpac Stadium as he was mobbed by his teammates, ecstatic at having fought back from a 17-0 deficit after eight minutes.

The win curtailed the Kiwis hopes for a fifth NZI Sevens title and puts England right in contention for the rest of the IRB Sevens World Series. New Zealand dominated the opening exchanges of the final and it was no surprise when they scored first, through Grant.

England's first attack was a sizzling 80m break by winger Tom Biggs but was hauled down in the corner by a desperate diving tackle from Umaga Marshall.

Zar Lawrence, who had a fine second day, crossed soon afterwards before Forbes stole possession and dived over to rub further salt into the English wounds.

However, Phillips gave his side some momentum with a try on the stroke of halftime, outpacing the cover defence to have them trailing 5-17.
England closed the gap further when, after some neat interplay between both sides, Lote Raikabula threw a loose pass which was intercepted by Vickerman on halfway who coasted home untouched.

The penalty count then started to mount against New Zealand and England's spirits had clearly lifted. The Kiwis enjoyed a brief period of dominating possession, but after a gruelling two days fatigue was starting to sink into both parties with some basic handling errors. Two yellow cards to England's Rob Vickerman and Kiwi Tomasi Cama reduced the game to a six-a-side show but you felt the tide was turning.

New Zealand stopped the rot for a spell and seemed to have proceedings in hand when replacement Tim Mikkelson shot clear as the seconds ticked away.

However, he lost possession and his team paid the ultimate price with Damudamu silencing the Cake-Tin’s partisan crowd.

It was deserved title for the English, who were the best attacking side throughout the two days, scoring the most tries (23) while captain Ollie Phillips was the leading tryscorer going over the white line seven times.

It was England's first tournament win since Hong Kong in 2006 and the first for coach Ben Ryan.