Rugby: All Blacks Sevens hammered by USA at London Sevens but bounce back for third place

The All Blacks Sevens won silverware in London, but not the desired shape.

An astonishing second half blitz from the USA - led by a flying exocet missile by the name of Perry Baker with no less than four tries - saw New Zealand fall 42-14 to the defending London Cup champions in a sizeable day Cup quarter-final upset.

New Zealand bounced back to defeat England in the plate semifinals 35-10 before winning the plate final 29-14 against Argentina. The plate victory meant New Zealand finished third in the series standings behind winners Fiji and second placed South Africa.

Scotland were the shock winners of the tournament after beating South Africa 27-26 in a thrilling final.

The early signs in the quarter-final defeat were inauspicious for New Zealand when Sonny Bill Williams limped off with a leg injury. However, Rieko Ioane gave New Zealand a 7-0 lead with a shimmy and sprint for his sixth try of the tournament.

Baker hit back for the USA, in a superb team try, using his sheer pace to outstrip the cover defence for the first of his two tries in each half.

Lewis Ormond pounced on a USA error to bolt 50m and it was 14-all at halftime.

New Zealand have seldom been totally outrun in a half as we saw with this demolition by the USA. Inspired by the clever Madison Hughes who scored one and created one, they monopolised possession and won just their fourth match in World Series history against. Baker was literally unstoppable on the flanks.