NZPA Correspondent

Sydney, March 21 NZPA - New Zealand's lead in the International Rugby Board's sevens world series was cut dramatically today as Samoa cruised to their second consecutive tournament win in Adelaide.

New Zealand was among the Pacific Islander's victims enroute to maximum points when they eliminated Gordon Tietjen's team in the quarterfinals of the Cup competition.

Samoa's 24-19 triumph in extra time condemned New Zealand to their worst finish of the series. They had to settle for the second-tier Plate final against defending champion South Africa, a match they won 21-14 to bank 12 points.

New Zealand improved from 84 to 96 after five of the eight tournaments but saw their 14-point buffer whittled to just two after Samoa swamped the United States 38-10 in the finale to collect a valuable 24.

It was the fourth time in this series that New Zealand has been edged by Samoa. The previous reversals were at the pool stage in South Africa - though New Zealand recovered to win the final - a semifinal in Wellington and again in the Las Vegas decider.

New Zealand coach Tietjens was left to rue the awarding of two dubious Samoan tries that produced a 14-5 halftime lead.

He argued both should have been rubbed out for obstruction and claimed Australian referee Andrew Lees agreed after the match.

"It's pretty hard to stomach when you see they were mistakes and the referee agrees," he said.

Kurt Baker and Zar Lawrence turned the deficit into a 19-14 lead but Samoa sent the match into golden point extra time when Simaika Mikaele squeezed over in the left hand corner with seconds remaining.

Baker was sinbinned for dissent towards the match officials after the try was awarded, a penalty Tietjens labelled as disappointing but justified.

His absence was crucial as Samoa swiftly claimed the decisive score when Timoteo Iosua spied a gap and dived under the crossbar.

Baker's yellow card proved a continuation of New Zealand's ill discipline throughout the tournament.

They were also undermanned in pool games against Argentina and Scotland - where two men were yellow carded for second half infringements.

New Zealand regrouped to beat another perennial powerhouse Fiji 24-21 in the Plate semifinal after leading 19-0 at halftime.

New Zealand had breezed through pool play by posting big wins over Scotland, Tonga and Argentina, scoring 104 points and conceding just seven.

Despite a subdued ending to the tournament Tietjens was encouraged ahead of next weekend's assignment in Hong Kong.

"I thought we played really well, it was just a couple of calls that went against us," he said.

Tietjens said the loss of Sherwin Stowers before the team left New Zealand and Lote Raikabula to a training injury also impacted on the side.

"They are two keys guys," he said.

Stowers need to pass a fitness test before he can be confirmed for Hong Kong but Raikabula (bicep) remains on the sidelines.

On a positive note Save Tokula was impressive once his four-match suspension for a high tackle in Las Vegas lapsed before the final pool game against Argentina.

NZ results:

Cup quarterfinal

Samoa 24 (Mikaele Pesamino, Loto Lui, Simaika Mikaele, Timoteo Iosua tries; Lui 2 con) New Zealand 19 (Save Tokula, Kurt Baker, Zar Lawrence tries; Tomasi Cama 2 con). Halftime: 14-5

Plate semifinal

New Zealand 24 (Save Tokula, Tim Mikkelson, Zar Lawrence, Toby Arnold tries; Tomasi Cama 2 con) Fiji 21 (Emosi Vucango, Setephano Cakau, Watisoni Votu tries; Vucango, Cakau, Votu cons) Halftime: 19-0

Plate final

New Zealand 21(Save Tokula, DJ Forbes, Tim Mikkelson tries; Kurt Baker 3 con) South Africa 14(Sampie Mastriet, Chris Dry tries; Cecil Afrika con) Halftime: 14-14

Series points: New Zealand 96, Samoa 94, Fiji 74, Australia 62, England 54.