POWERFUL New Zealand outplayed error prone Argentina 38-14 in Cape Town to win the second leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series as Australia won three straight games to finish ninth.

The convincing New Zealand victory in the final followed two much closer matches — a 17-12 quarterfinal win over England followed by a 19-12 semi-final triumph against hosts and titleholders South Africa.

A new look New Zealand squad under new coach Clark Laidlaw finished runners up to South Africa last weekend in the first leg of the 10 tournament series in Dubai.

That result, coupled with winning in Cape Town, gave the Kiwis an early lead in the overall standings with 41 points, two more than South Africa.

New Zealand began the second leg with an unexpected 22-0 loss to the United States, but bounced back to defeat Spain and Australia convincingly and secure a last eight place.

“I am so proud of the way the boys fought back after losing to the Americans in our opening match,” New Zealand skipper Scott Curry told reporters.

LIVE stream every stop of the World Rugby Sevens tournament on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week Foxtel Now trial & start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >

“Today was a fresh start for us in Cape Town and we helped each other throughout the matches. Our team spirit made a huge difference.

“We are now looking forward to the third leg in Sydney during January followed by the fourth in our home town of Hamilton, where the tickets have already been sold out.”

After reaching the final with victories over first day surprise teams the United States and Canada, Argentina made a string of unforced errors against the clinical New Zealanders.

A crooked lineout throw led to the first Kiwi try by giant Joe Ravouvou, who shrugged off a series of attempts to bring him down before scoring.

An Argentine knock on resulted in a scrum from which Vilimoni Koroi scored a soft second try.

The South Americans reduced the deficit to 14-7 at halftime thanks to a try and conversion from Lautaro Bazan Velez.

Argentina needed to score first in the second half, but fell further behind instead as slack marking allowed Tim Mikkelson to dot the ball down unchallenged.

A second Ravouvou try and one from Regan Ware stretched the New Zealand advantage to 31-7 before Luciano Gonzalez scored a consolation try.

But New Zealand had the final say with Sione Molia racing away to cross the line more than one minute after the full-time hooter sounded.

South Africa failed for the second successive season to win in Cape Town after finishing runners up to England last year.

They had to settle for third place and bronze medals this time after edging Canada 19-17 in a playoff.

South Africa featured in the most dramatic match of the second day, coming from 16 points behind to pip 2016 Rio Olympic Games sevens champions Fiji 31-26 in the quarterfinals.

“I am going to grow very old very quickly after matches like this,” said South Africa coach Neil Powell after a thriller watched by a 50,000 Cape Town Stadium crowd.

Australia finished ninth after posting dominant victories against Uganda, Wales and Spain on day two.

That leaves Australia in sixth spot overall on 21 points after two rounds.

“I was happy with our improved performance,” Australia coach Andy Friend said.

“We are better than ninth spot in my opinion but what we need to be better at is that on day one in the big games we are winning those.

“We are certainly not happy with ninth spot.

“Our attack has been good all year, the issue is more our defence and making sure that when we don’t have the ball, to make sure we are as ruthless as we are in attack.

“Defence is what wins you tournaments and we haven’t been defending as well as we could have been.

“We have a little bit of work to do before we break for Christmas.

“We have the first of our three biggest tournaments in Sydney coming up.

“We have a bit of work to do and we’ll make sure we do that before we break.”

World Rugby Sevens Series results from final day of second leg in Cape Town

Cup quarterfinals: South Africa 31 Fiji 26, New Zealand 17 England 12, Canada 35 France 7, Argentina 28 USA 12

Semi-finals: New Zealand 19 South Africa 12, Argentina 14 Canada 12

Third place: South Africa 19 Canada 17

Final: New Zealand 38 Argentina 14

Challenge trophy quarterfinals: Samoa 19 Kenya 17, Spain 24 Scotland 7, Wales 21 Russia 12, Australia 47 Uganda 12

Semi-finals: Spain 24 Samoa 0, Australia 42 Wales 5

Final: Australia 26 Spain 7

Places 5/8: USA 29 France 12, Fiji 19 England 12

5/6: Fiji 26 USA 12

13/16: Kenya 33 Scotland, 12 Uganda 28 Russia 19

13/14: Kenya 24 Uganda 14

Overall points

41: New Zealand, 39: South Africa, 28: Fiji, 27: England, 24: Argentina, 21: Australia, 20: Canada, 18: France, 17: Samoa, 14: Spain, 13: Kenya, United States, 11: Scotland, 8: Wales, 4: Uganda, 2: Russia

Schedule

Jan 26-28: Sydney, Australia

Feb. 3-4: Hamilton, New Zealand

Mar 2-4: Las Vegas, USA

Mar 10-11: Vancouver, Canada

Apr. 6-8: Hong Kong

Apr. 28-29: Singapore

June 2-3: London, England

June 8-10: Paris, France