Australia has overcome a dogged South Africa to set up a final against rivals New Zealand in the rugby sevens world series season opener on the Gold Coast.

After losing a 19-7 lead, Australia were held 19-all by the resilient South Africans in Sunday’s semi-final before Jesse Parahi’s try in the ninth minute of extra time sealed a dramatic 24-19 win.

Ex-Gold Coast Titan Shannon Walker, Con Foley and skipper Ed Jenkins all crossed early for Australia to seemingly have them cruising towards victory.

But Jamba Ulengo’s second of the game and Stephan Dippenaar’s leveller set-up the extra period.

Australia dominated possession in the added time, with Junior Laloifi guilty of missing an opportunity when he was caught with the ball as Jenkins loomed outside him.

Laloifi’s mistake didn’t prove costly however, with the youngster throwing the final pass to send Parahi over the line.

“Mate, very tough. Games against South Africa are never easy,” Foley told AAP.

“We were buggered out there but really happy with the effort, really gutsy effort in the end.”

It means the battered and bruised Australians will aim to win a home sevens tournament for the first time since 2002 against the world champion Kiwis.

New Zealand, who had cruised into the semi-finals without even conceding a point, were made to work hard against England.

James Rodwell gave the English a surprise lead but the Kiwis battled back and held on to reach their third straight final on the Gold Coast.

Foley said he was hopeful the Australians would be able to recover in time for the final at 7.05pm AEST (2005 AEDT).

“We’ve been building to this for a long while now,” he said.

“We had a really good pre-season and it’s all been building up to this next game. Hopefully all our hard work will pay off.”