In one of the most heart-racing, topsy-turvy finales to a Sevens tournament in recent memory, England beat Fiji in the dying seconds here 26-24 to take the Cathay Pacific/ Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens and close the gap to just six points in the race for the IRB Sevens crown.
Ben Gollings, overlooked in Melbourne, was England's saviour, dashing over at the last to take England level and converting the try to the ecstasy of the thousands of England fans.
Varndell put England ahead early on but Daunivucu hit back. Gollings scored, then Tait for a 19-7 England lead, but Fiji hit back strongly.
Tries for Dranivasa, Naevo and Ryder edged the Fijians into what looked to be a winning lead, only for England to break up field through Seymour and gain the valuable possession they needed to allow Gollings to scamper in virtually unopposed.
The victory takes England to 90 points overall, just six points behind the Fijians on 96. South Africa lie on 70 points and New Zealand on 56.
Fiji were first to book their place in the final when they beat New Zealand to make their fifth final out of the five this season. Tries for Volavola (2), Bolavucu and Dranivasa put Serevi's men 28-0 up by half time and, although New Zealand fought back with tries from captain Ioasa and Hunt, a late Nanuku effort made the final score 35-10.
England had then overcome South Africa 24-0 in a passion-filled match. First Tait sprinted the length of the pitch to score under the posts, before Mdaka scored for South Africa, only for his try to be disallowed after play came back for a Jonny Mokwena yellow card. Simon Amor stretched England to a 12-0 half time lead - hard on South Africa skipper Jaco Pretorius, whose defence was almost single-handedly keeping South Africa in the match. Varndell and Strettle - together with Bolavucu vying for the honour of fastest man in the tournament - both scored after the break to stetch the lead to 24-0, and although Juries tried and tried, England held their line.
Plate trophy
Wales won their fourth trophy in four tournament starts this year - including the Commonwealth Games - when they beat Kenya 15-5 to capture the Hong Kong plate.
Benjamin Ayimba put Kenya 5-0 to the good inside the first minute, but the Welsh hit back through Rhodri McAtee to level 5-5 at the break. And the second half saw Wales exert their athority with further tries from Gareth Chapman and Aled Brew.
"I'm extremely pleased with my players," said coach Dai Rees. "We were very disappointed to miss out on the Cup competition yesterday, so to pick themselves up showed their character.
"I think the union has seen the value of Sevens and i'm confident that we'll be involved in the whole series next year."
Two tries a piece for Gareth Chapman and James Merriman had earlier contributed to Wales' 29-0 semi final win against Canada, after Kenya's pace had proved too much for France.
Bowl competition
China won the Bowl trophy amid jubilant scenes with a quick-fire 47-0 win over Chinese Taipei. They raced to a 21-0 half time lead and - with a brace of tries apiece for Xu Hui Junior and Lu Zhuan - maintained the torrid after the break.
Earlier all four Asian sides in the Bowl - China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei - had won their quarter finals to ensure an all-Asian semi final line-up for the first time, arguably the pick of those snatched by Sri Lanka, who beat Al Carvelli's under-achieving USA team.
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