Coming back from being 12-0 down at the break against the five-times IRB Sevens champions, Kabamba Floors' South African team scored 31 unanswered points in the second half - producing a performance some observers compared to the magic only Fiji can display.

And they did it in some of the worst weather seen at the Dubai Sevens in almost a decade. Unlike Day One, when the games were played in near heat wave conditions, the heavens opened at the Exiles RFC Ground on Saturday and the conditions were not only much cooler, but also far more difficult for the abbreviated version of the game as almost all the games were played in torrential rain.

By the time the Final took place the Exiles Ground's main field had been turned into a mud bath with pools of water all over.

Yet, the South Africans produced some of the most sublime attacks at the tournament and shut the Kiwis out in a five-try second-half rout.

The Boks had playmaker and Player of the Tournament Stefan Basson, plus tireless forwards Jonathan Mokuena and Schalk van der Merwe to thank for this victory - which saw them take an early lead in the IRB Sevens series.

They now return home for the second leg of the IRB Sevens series in the South African coastal city of George, the home of captain Kabamba Floors.

Meanwhile Samoa took the Plate title, proving too strong for France in the Final of the Plate competition, coming from behind after an early try by Bogdan Leonte to win 26-7. Samoa's captain Lolo Lui again proved the difference, inspiring the islanders in the absence of usual leader Uale Mai.

In the Bowl competition Argentina recovered from a disappointing opening day and proved too strong for spirited Zimbabwe in the Bowl Final, winning 26-7 without injured flyer Santiago Gomez Cora, whose tries earlier here took him ahead of England's Ben Gollings to top the all-time IRB Sevens try-scoring charts with 147.

In the Shield competition Wales beat Arabian Gulf 33-0 in the Final. Never in trouble against the host nation, the Welsh will feel unfortunate not to have been contesting for higher honours after two wins on day one, but travel to South Africa with confidence restored.

Here's a complete wrap of the second day's play in Dubai!

Bowl quarter-finals:

The Portuguese, who were hard done by to loose out only on points difference in the race for the Cup play-offs, continued their impressive form in the opening match of Day Two easily beating Scotland 33-12. Portugal went ahead early with a try through David Mateus, who also scored his side's second minutes later. Further tries by Aderito Esteves, Antonio de Aguilar (two) sealed the win as Portugal raced into a 33-0 lead, with consolation scores by Mark Robertson and Lee Kibble giving the Scotland score some respectability.

Argentina came from behind to beat Wales 24-10 in the second match of the Bowl section. Wales, another team unlucky to have lost out narrowly on advancing to the Cup section, opened the scoring against Argentina when Jonathan Edwards went over early. Rhodri McAtee scored next as the Welsh went further ahead, before the Pumas struck back through Horacio San Martin to make it just 10-7 in favour of Wales at the break.  Santiago Gomez Cora opened the scoring in the second period, with Argentina's star player becoming the all-time leading try scorer on the IRB Sevens circuit with his 143rd try. A yellow card against Edwards then gave the Pumas the numerical advantage that saw Gomez Cora going over for his second try of the match and his 144th on the all-time list. He extended his lead at the top of that list further when he completed his hat-trick and take his team out to a 24-10 victory.

Tunisia easily beat the hapless Arabian Gulf 26-0. Lofti Nino opened the scoring for Tunisia as the conditions continued to make life unpleasant. Sabri Guemir then stretched his team's lead further against an Arabian Gulf team that failed to score a single point on the opening day. Haithem Chelli was next to score as the Africans took a 21-0 lead into the break. The high error rate continued after the break and scoring became increasingly difficult for the two teams. But eventually Tunisia scored, through Mohamed Zied Hlaili, as Tunisia advanced to the Bowl semi-finals. And the hosts maintained their clean score-sheet ... not a record to be proud of.

Zimbabwe edged Kenya 12-0 in a somewhat dour match. In the all-African affair Zimbabwe went up by 12-0 at half-time, a game that was marred by a power failure at the Exiles RFC. Kenya, often the darlings of the crows on the Sevens circuit, looked as lethargic as they did on Day One - when they managed just one try. Even with a numerical advantage, after Zimbabwean Slater Ndlovu was yellow carded, the Kenyans failed to score. Zimbabwe, with Neill Nortje in impressive form, held on for a hard-earned win.

Results:
Match 25: Portugal 33-12 Scotland
Match 26: Wales 10-24 Argentina
Match 27: Tunisia 26-0 Arabian Gulf
Match 28: Zimbabwe 12-0 Kenya

Cup quarter-finals:

Fiji smashed France 46-7 in the first of the Cup quarter-final matches. The Fijians showed from the outset they intended to make up for their Day One slip, when Naipolioni Nalaga went over for an early score. Next William Ryder scored for the Fijians as the French looked at a loss as to how they should stop the stepping Fijians. The Pacific Islanders became a touch arrogant and Sireli Naqelevuki paid the price when he was caught from behind while cruising to an open try-line, but Ryder soon made up for it with his second try. And he completed his hat-trick with some sublime stepping from the restart. Setefano Cakau scored next as the Fijian lead stretched to 22-0 at the break. Mosese Volavola, Ryder (his fourth) and Neumi Nanuku scored the Fijians' second-half tries, while Charles Platek got a late French consolation score as the earlier downpour turned into torrential rain. Not that it affected the Fijians, who continued to mesmerise the French with their sublime skills.

New Zealand easily beat Canada 31-0 as the conditions worsened. The Kiwis looked more at home in the difficult conditions and Nigel Hunt opened the scoring. Hunt also scored number two for the New Zealanders as they just managed to control the ball better in the very difficult conditions. Alfred Pelenise scored the Kiwis' third as a Canadian error left the New Zealanders with extra numbers out wide. It left the Kiwis with a 19-0 lead at the break. Solomon King opened the Kiwis' scoring in the second half, with Rene Ranger scoring the only other try as the Kiwis cruised home.

South Africa recorded a 19-10 win over Samoa as conditions continued to deteriorate. It was Danwel Demas who opened the scoring for the South Africans, who showed his pace to score with a kick and chase. And Stefan Basson, the South Africans' playmaker, stretched that lead further when he scored out wide to make it 12-0 at the break. With pools of water now having gathered on the field handling and keeping their footing became increasingly difficult for the players. Basson opened the second-half scoring with his second of the match. George Akerei finally pulled one back for the Samoans as he kicked ahead from deep inside his own half and then hacked the ball through to fall on it. And when captain Lolo Lui scored a similar kick-and-chase for the Samoans minutes later they suddenly had a foot in the back door. But with time running our and trailing 19-10 the Samoans needed to score twice. A mistake from the restart killed off any hope for the Pacific Islanders.

England beat Australia 21-5 at claim the last place in the Cup semi-finals. Brett Stapleton opened the scoring for the Australians in the dire conditions, a try set up by Tim Atkinson - the one Aussie with previous IRB Sevens experience. But Dave Strettle hit back for England, using his greater pace to go over out wide. The Ben Gollings conversion from the touchline put England into a 7-5 at the break. Strettle also scored the first try after the break, as the Aussies failed to close down the quick-footed Englishman. Gollings continued his great kicking form as he again converted from the touchline, meaning the Aussies now had to score twice to take the lead. And Gollings scored next to put daylight between England and Australia, also ensuring Gollings closed the gap on the Argentinean Santiago Gomez Cora as the IRB Sevens series' all-time leading try scorer - who stood at 145 tries.

Results:
Match 29: Fiji 46-7 France
Match 30: New Zealand 31-0 Canada
Match 31: South Africa 19-10 Samoa
Match 32: England 21-5 Australia

Shield semi-finals:

Wales beat Scotland 17-12 in extra time in the first of the Shield semi-finals in this the battle of the Celts. As the rain finally let up Jonathan Edwards opened the scoring for Wales, capitalising on a Scottish fumble. That was the only score of the first half. The brief respite in the rain also ended as the second half got underway. Ruaridh Jackson put Scotland on the board with the first score after the break, following a neat little flip over the head by Roddy Grant. The Welsh appeared to self-implode, giving away a string of penalties, and the Scottish team turned up the heat as Murray Bringhurst scored a crucial try to put his team in the lead for the first time. But  Jonathan Edwards immediately pulled one back for the Welsh, and the unsuccessful conversion - front right in front - left the scores tied at 12-all, sending the match into golden-point, sudden-death extra time. And Tom James scored the winner for Wales.

Arabian Gulf advanced to the Shield Final with a come-from-behind 10-7 win over Kenya, finally giving the home fans something to cheer about. Horace Otieno opened the scoring, which was only Kenya's second try of a tournament that had so far been very disappointing for the Africans. Kenya clung to the early score to take that 7-0 lead into the break. The Arabian Gulf team finally put their first points of the tournament on the board, a try scored by Dushan Raveendrakumar and set up by South African-born Francois Coetzer. And it was Coetzer who scored next to put his team into the lead.

Results:
Match 33: Scotland 12-17 Wales
Match 34: Arabian Gulf 10-7 Kenya

Bowl semi-finals:

Argentina made up for their earlier disappointments as they beat Portugal 10-7 in the first of the two Bowl semi-finals. The players showed plenty of heart, but the skills were not always up to the standards you would come to expect at this event. The most crucial act of the first half was Argentinean Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe earning himself a yellow card for a professional foul, leaving the Portuguese with a numerical advantage, which David Mateus exploited to score the only try of the half. But the first scoring after the break came from the six-man Argentinean team, with Santiago Gomez Cora scoring from a neat chip-and-chase. Gomez Cora had again stretched his lead at the top of the all-time try-scorers list to three, with his 146th try in the abbreviated version of the game. And he then scored his 147th Sevens try and ninth of this year's tournament, to stamp his authority on the game. That score put Argentina in the lead, at 10-7, with just a minute in the match to go. There was confusion at the end of the as communication broke down between the referee and the in-goal touch judge - as it appeared that Argentina had scored again. There was no confirmation of the try and the score stood at 10-7.

Zimbabwe recorded a hard-earned 17-10 win over Tunisia in the second semi-final. The first score in this all-African affair came from Tendayi Daniel Hondo for Zimbabwe, just after the Tunisians were reduced to six men through a yellow card to Lotfi Nino. The Tunisians' problems were further compounded when Khaled Zegden were red-carded for striking. And Zimbabwe capitalised as Slater Ndlovu scored against a five-man Tunisia to put his side up 10-0 at the break. Wensley Mbanje scored Zimbabwe's third try, just after the restart, with a kick-and-chase - which had become a popular tactic in the wet conditions. Sabri Guemir finally managed to get his team, Tunisia, on the board with a try. But at 17-5 and time running out it was mere consolation. The six-man Tunisians scored another through Abbes Kherfani to make it 17-10 and looking for a late score to perhaps send the game into extra time. But there was no further scoring at the Zimbabweans advanced to the Final.

Results:
Match 35: Portugal 7-10 Argentina
Match 36: Tunisia 10-17 Zimbabwe

Plate semi-finals:

France coasted into the Final, as they beat Canada 36-0 in the first semi-final. Romain Edmond-Samuel opened the scoring, a try for France, after the Canadians conceded a number of penalties under pressure close to their own goalline. Canadian Philip Mack was yellow-carded soon afterwards for a late tackle and Edmond-Samuel scored his and his team's second try as the French enjoyed a numerical advantage. While Mack was still cooling his heels, Pierre Yves Montagnat scored the third French try to make it 19-0 at the break. Vincent Roux scored France's fourth as the French took a seemingly unassailable lead in the second half. Nicolas Breuil and Edmond-Samuel (who completed his hat-trick) continued the rout with further tries.

The Aussies opened the scoring inside the first minute, with James Lew scoring the try after some good play by Tim Atkinson in the build-up. The game went to-and-thro a bit, with both teams squandering chances, before Alatasi Tupou scored for Samoa from a great chip-and-gather. That gave the Samoans a 7-5 lead at the break. The two teams continued to produce a display that showed their approached was overly cautious - a desperation not to make mistakes, rather than taking a few risks in trying to win the game. It was Samoa who eventually broke the second-half deadlock as Tupou scored his second try. That gave his team a 12-5 win.

Results:
Match 37: France 36-0 Canada
Match 38: Samoa 12-5 Australia

Cup semi-finals:

New Zealand and South Africa advanced to the Final after they overcame the number one and two seeds respectively in the semi-finals.

Although the rain calmed somewhat for the Cup semis, Gordon Tietjens' young New Zealand side performed heroics in atrocious conditions for rugby to build a strong lead against Fiji, Zar Lawrence and Nigel Hunt again to the fore. They then held on for a famous 17-12 win as Nanuku and Ryder looked to turn things around for the defending IRB Sevens World Series champions. Edwin Cocker opened up the scoring for New Zealand after some messy play from the Fijians on their own line. Lote Raikabula touched down soon afterwards after some brilliant support play saw the tall man touch down next to the poles. Lawrence put the game way beyond the Fijians after racing a good 80 meters after a New Zealand scrum in his own 22. The Fijians put on a better performance in the second half, but it was New Zealand that were triumphant.

South Africa were clinical in dispatching England 17-0 to also reach the Final. With Stefan Basson again pulling the strings, the Boks also had Phillip Burger and Ryno Benjamin to thank as they went over for tries. The first half was an extremely tight affair, though it was England who enjoyed the majority of territory and possesion. Burger scored on the stroke of half-time to make up for an earlier try-scoring blunder and put his team on the board. Basson added the extras to give SA a 7-0 lead at the break. Burger set up a further two tries after first sending Benjamin through after a clever grubber kick ahead. And then, with England reduced to just six men after a dangerous high tackle, Burger put in a safer hit on Ben Gollings that saw the ball pop up for Benjamin to run in a simple try and ultimately seal the game.

Results:
Match 39: Fiji 12-17 New Zealand
Match 40: South Africa 19-0 England

Shield Final:

Wales kept the Arabian Gulf off the scoreboard with some powerful running displays in the wet that saw them notch up five tries to nill. Tom James was the Welsh hero of the day as the big man ran in a hat-trick of tries to assure his team of victory. Gareth Chapman dived over for the first try of the match after some good running from Wales on their own tryline ended up in seven points. James followed soon after with a cheeky try under the posts from some poor tackling from the Arabian Gulf. The Arabian Gulf defence was again to blame for tries number two and three from James as he helped Wales tear away in a very one-sided affair. Skipper Richard Pugh rubbed salt into the Arabian Gulf's wounds by diving over with just seconds remaining on the stadium clock. Never in trouble against the host nation, the Welsh will feel unfortunate not to have been contesting for higher honours after two wins on day one, but travel to South Africa with confidence restored.

Result:
Wales 33-0 Arabian Gulf

Bowl Final:

Having recovered from a disappointing opening day, the Pumas of Argentina proved too strong for spirited Zimbabwe in the Bowl Final, winning 26-7, even without injured flyer Santiago Gomez Cora, whose tries earlier took him ahead of England's Ben Gollings to top the all-time IRB Sevens try-scoring charts with 147. Argentina put on a much better performance in the Bowl Final and looked a completely different side from day one. Bruzzone was first to go over after a clever grubber kick ahead allowed the speedster to pick up and score untouched into the mud. Another try followed soon after, but it was some disastrous play from Zimbabwe that let Merello over easily after bad miscommunication led to the ball being passed over their own tryline, just waiting to be pounced upon. Merello was over again in the second half - this time with a lot more work to do. Zimbabwe could only manage a consolation try by Ndlovo on the stroke of full-time to prevent a complete whitewash. The Pumas were thrilled with their win and capped off their victory by diving in the mud.

Result:
Argentina 26-7 Zimbabwe

Plate Final:

Samoa proved too strong for France in the Final of the Plate, coming from behind after an early try by Bogdan Leonte to win 26-7. Samoa's captain Lolo Lui again proved the difference, inspiring the Islanders in the absence of usual captain Uale Mai. It was always going to be a difficult affair for the French, who have failed to fire on all cylinders in this tournament. It was three second half tries by the Samoans that proved the difference between the two sides as conditions failed to get any better, leaving the ball often to be mistaken for a bar of soap. This didn't help an error fuelled match that's only highlight would be that of Pesimanno grabing a brace of tries to put the game out of France's reach. The first came through some individual brilliance that saw the speedster spot the smallest of gaps and send in a clever grubber. He put on the gas to touchdown close to the poles for a conversion. The second came from a well wroked overlap by his teammates that left Pesimanno again having to turn on his rocket thrusters to get away from a French defender clinging on for dear life.

Result:
France 7-26 Samoa

Cup Final:

It may be a cliché, but it was truly a Final (a game) of two halves. The Kiwis dominated the opening 10 minutes, taking a 12-0 lead at the break, as the South Africans stumbled from one mistake to the next. But in the second half the South Africans showed some sublime handling skills and superb running angles to score five unanswered tries for a 31-12 victory.

Stefan Basson truly deserved the award as Player of the Tournament, as he showed in the Final that South Africa now has the kind of playmaker that a Waisale Serevi has been for Fiji for years. Basson may not be in Serevi's class, in fact he has a long way to go still, but he is as valuable to the South African cause as Serevi is still to the Fijian campaign.

Apart from Basson, the tireless work of forwards Jonathan Mokuena and Schalk van der Merwe played a huge role in that second half comeback.

New Zealand started well and kept up a high intensity level for the first 10 minutes of a fine Final in devilish conditions, to lead 12-0 at the break following tries for Edwin Cocker and captain Nigel Hunt. Danwel Demas had a golden opportunity to score on the stroke of half-time, but was unlucky to see his kick ahead stray wide.

Whatever coach Paul Treu told the South Africans at half-time, it worked, as they came out playing a far more positive and expansive game. Thobela Mdaka, Demas and Basson all went over for second half scores to leave spirited New Zealand grasping at shadows.

New Zealand had South Africa on the back foot through the entire first half. Cocker again opened up the scoring for his team just like he did against Fiji in the semi-final, this time made a lot easier through a desperate inside pass from Hunt before being dragged into touch. The ball was left sitting in the South Africa danger zone, only for Cocker to dive on and score. Some verbal disagreement from Hunt towards the referee soon followed, and the big man was shown a yellow card for his efforts. However, South Africa failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage and paid the price. Within minutes of Hunt returning to fray, the player suffering from verbal diarrhoea made up for his earlier blunder by diving into the mud that was almost as filthy as his dirty mouth. The conversion was successful but that was to be the last points New Zealand would score in the competition.

South Africa responded immediately in the second half after a superb break from Philip Burger saw the Cheetahs flyer send a chip kick ahead, only for him to regather, hold off a tackle and offload to the speeding replacement Mdaka to touch down under the poles. Floors was next on the score-sheet as the recently capped 15-man Springbok finished off a move from some great turnover play from the other side of the field. A New Zealand player was left stranded with no support and South Africa only needed to reclaim possession, which they did, and send the ball wide. Floors did the rest. It was game on when Mdaka went over for try number two. This time it took some strong running from the replacement to break though the midfield and beat a racing defender to dot down under the posts once again.

But it didn't stop there as the game was put out of New Zealand's reach after Basson made a small break from a scrum on the half way line, only to find an unmarked Demas on his right. The thin dreadlocked player turned on the gas to score in the corner and bury the Kiwis. Basson added further insult by nailing a brilliant dropkick conversion from the touchline. And if that wasn't enough, Basson made sure New Zealand were really stuck in the mud after racing through to score on full-time from a fantastic piece of magic between himself and Floors at the line-out.

Result:
New Zealand 12-31 South Africa