Samoa pile on gloom for All Blacks with victory in Dubai Sevens
Defeat in Rugby Sevens final for New Zealand as Perez scores twice in opening four minutes
It was a bad weekend to be wearing the famous black jersey with the silver fern logo.
As England beat the All Blacks in London by their biggest ever victory margin, bringing to an end the world champions' 20-game unbeaten run, in Dubai Samoa defeated the All Blacks Sevens in the Cup final of the second leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
The 26-15 victory was pleasing revenge for Samoa, who, three years ago, had suffered the same fate at the hands of New Zealand, whose sevens team have now been given the honour of being allowed to sport the famous All Blacks tag.
That accolade has been given mainly in recognition of the growing importance of the abbreviated version, which is now an Olympic sport.
However, since taking on that mantle, Gordon Tietjens's men have still to win a tournament, having lost in the finals of the opening two legs of the series, beaten by Fiji in the Gold Coast Sevens in October and now humbled by Samoa at the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens. It is almost as if the weight of carrying that famous name is proving a huge burden.
Tietjens insisted that, despite failing to secure a final victory, he was still happy with his side: and why not if you are leading the standings with seven tournaments to go, including the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Sevens in March.
"It's disappointing not to win one but it's not the end of the world," Tietjens said. "I have to be happy with two second-places. You could probably go through the entire World Series and win it without winning one leg."