England sevens coach Simon Amor says his side’s hard work finally paid off as he watched his team defeat South Africa in the Tokyo Sevens final.

A 21-14 victory over the Blitzbokke capped a strong day’s work for Amor’s men after they got off to a flying start with a 10-0 victory over France.

A 14-5 win over Canada in the semi-final then set up the clash with South Africa and tries from Charlie Hayter, Tom Mitchell and Phil Burgess were enough to take the win.

With two legs remaining – in Glasgow and at Twickenham – England now sit fourth in the standings after leapfrogging Australia.

And Amor praised his side’s efforts as they got themselves over the line in Japan.

“I’m incredibly proud of the players, the boys have worked so hard these last few weeks and we are measuring ourselves on effort and attitude,” he said.

“It wasn’t pretty rugby this week from a lot of teams but we carried on grafting and I’m incredibly proud of them.

“We are trying to be better than we were last year and a key goal for us was to win a tournament and we have done that now.

“We haven’t quite done as well in previous tournaments and we have had a lot of injuries that have disrupted our preparations.

“But the way they fought and got that win was great and it’s great for us to build on going forward.

“The Twickenham Sevens is going to be a fantastic event and great climax to a great series but once again I’m just so proud of the players because they have worked so hard and deserve it.”

© Sportsbeat 2015