South Africa have been crowned as the overall men's World Rugby Sevens Series champions ©Getty Images

South Africa have been crowned as the overall men's World Rugby Sevens Series champions after a day of high drama at the season's concluding Paris leg.

Olympic champions Fiji led the rankings going into the tournament at the Stade Jean Bouin but they only had a seven point advantage over the South Africans.

With 22 points available for a tournament victory there was all to play for in the French capital and after pool play concluded yesterday, Fiji suffered disaster as they lost their quarter final clash 21-17 to England today.

It meant they could only achieve a maximum of 13 points for finishing fifth - which they duly did by beating the United States - but South Africa knew they could pinch overall glory by winning the competition.

The Blitzboks were able to do just that, seeing off England 24-14 in the final and winning the overall title by just two points.

South Africa have finished on 182 points with Fiji stranded on 180.

"At the beginning of the tournament we said we don't want to focus on the result, we want to play some fantastic rugby," said South Africa captain, Philipp Snyman.

"We made it difficult for ourselves on day one. 

"We put it behind us and on day two we played phenomenally in the first game and then against New Zealand. 

New Zealand won the final event but Australia had already been crowned as overall women's champions ©Getty Images
New Zealand won the final event but Australia had already been crowned as overall women's champions ©Getty Images

"I still can’t believe we pulled that back but all credit to the team as we played phenomenal rugby. 

"We stuck to the basics and we've put a smile on faces. 

"It's amazing representing such an amazing country. 

"The people back home never stopped believing, we have amazing support and we're very grateful."

Elsewhere, New Zealand won the women's event after victory in the final over an Australian side whose passage to the final yesterday had already guaranteed them the overall title.

The Kiwis had been hoping to claim the crown for themselves with an Australian slip-up, but did have the last laugh with a convincing 33-7 success.

They ran in five tries to beat the Olympic champions by a big margin.

"Very proud but didn’t expect anything less," said New Zealand head coach, Allan Bunting. 

"This was our last chance to show what we’ve learned this year. 

"All we could control was what we did, nothing to do with Australia. 

"We've still got a lot to improve on and the next part of our journey for the World Cup is going to be important."