Kenya shock NZ at Wellington Sevens

Upset ... Kenya's Oscar Ouma (L) attempts to evade New Zealand's Tomasi Cama. Source: AFP

Kenya have beaten New Zealand in a monumental semi-final upset at the IRB Sevens World Series tournament in Wellington.

Australia, who lost to New Zealand earlier on Saturday, made up for the loss with victory over Scotland in the consolation Plate final.

In a tournament full of upsets, including Fiji losing to Canada for just the second time ever, perhaps the biggest shock was the unfancied Kenyans defying history and home advantage against the All Blacks.

The thrilling 19-14 win in extra time stunned the crowd who fully expected the series leaders to advance, particularly as they led 14-0 with just four minutes remaining.

However, the Kenyans responded to first-half tries by Tomasi Cama and Tim Mikkelson with tries to Oscar Ouma and captain Collins Injera, the latter a patient effort well after the final hooter had sounded.

Ouma grabbed the winner 40 seconds into 'golden try' extra time against the tiring hosts to book a first final in 14 years of trying in Wellington.

Perennial crowd favourites, Kenya have threatened many times but never won a world series event, but sport can have a cruel irony about it as they fell in a similar manner to New Zealand in the final.

Facing a previously underperforming England and chasing their first IRB tournament victory in 83 attempts, Kenya couldn't defend a score of 19-12 late in the second half as England added to their 2009 Wellington crown.

As Kenya did against the All Blacks, England scored an equlising try after the the siren had sounded and, with the Kenyans temporarily down to five men due to sin bins, scoring the golden try was almost a formality.

It represented a remarkable turnaround for England, who hadn't reached the quarterfinals of any of the first three legs of the series.

Earlier, Australia gained some degree of consolation by beating Scotland 22-7 in the Plate final.

The young Australia side effectively finished fifth of 16 teams on Saturday to round out their best effort of the series.

They won five of six matches, sweeping through pool play unbeaten on Friday - including an upset defeat of Fiji - and comfortably accounting for South Africa (28-12) and the Scots in the Plate division.

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