Australia have toppled defending champions South Africa 19-14 in a thrilling final at Twickenham to win the London Sevens and claim their first Cup title on the IRB Sevens World Series since Brisbane in 2002.

The Australian team (all AIS scholarship holders) had to withstand a gripping finale to secure a memorable victory at the ‘Home of Rugby’ in front of 40,000 fans.

New skipper James Stannard raced the length of the Twickenham pitch in the dying seconds of the decider to make a match-winning tackle on South Africa’s Cecil Afrika.

Afrika looked certain to snatch South Africa a famous victory but Stannard cut him down with a spectacular match-winning tackle which cleaned up the corner post.

Australian coach Michael O’Connor said he was sure South Africa was going to sneak home right on the siren.

‘The game was seesawing, then right on full time when we had a 19-14 lead, one of the South Africans made a break and took off down the field and I was sure he was going to score,’ O’Connor said.

‘I thought James had no chance of getting him, I have no idea where he pulled that pace from. He’s got to be the player of the tournament.’

‘The boys are absolutely thrilled, I am incredibly proud of them.’

‘Only three of the boys have played here at Twickenham before, and we lost Clinton Sills, (concussion) Bernard Foley (ankle) and Ed Jenkins (virus) before the final, but the guys just handled the pressure well and held their composure to pull off a great victory.’

Stannard said he was ecstatic with his team’s undefeated performance at the London Sevens which sees them move into equal third with Fiji on the overall standings.

The Australian skipper was also crowed as the highest-point scorer at the penultimate leg of the IRB Series with 67 points while teammate Clinton Sills announced his return to the circuit with nine tries.

‘We have worked so hard as a group over the last year, everyone who has been a part of the side and it has paid off,’ Stannard said.

‘Australia hasn’t won a Cup Final in over eight years and that’s something that we’ve been using as motivation.’

‘We won the Plate in Dubai and the next step up was getting that Cup. We have come close a couple of times with Samoa edging us out.’