At a glance
errors, particularly in the first half, as they kept handing back possession to New Zealand in what could have been a symptom of having to play extra time in their semifinal victory over South Africa.
The Kiwis made them pay for most of their errors in the first New Zealand’s second try.
Fiji’s task was made even tougher two minutes before halftime when Sevuloni Mocenecagi earned himself a yellow card for a high, no-arms tackle on New Zealand’s Sam Dickson which had the New Zealand coaching staff fired up. The Fijian
New Zealand 14 (Etene Nanai-Seturo, Regan Ware try; Vilimoni Koroi 2 con) Fiji 0. HT: 14-0.
New Zealand 17 (Regan Ware 2, Etene Nanai-Seturo tries; Vilimoni Koroi con) England 12 (Daniel Bibby, Alexander Davis tries; Tom Mitchell con). HT: 12-7.
New Zealand 17 (Silica Winiata, Michaela Blyde, Kelly Brazier tries; Tennika Willison con) Australia 12 (Emilee Cherry, Ellia Green tries; Emma Sykes con) after extra time. HT: 12-0. FT: 12-12
New Zealand 26 (Sarah Goss, Michaela Blyde, Shakira Baker, Portia Woodman tries; Tyla Nathan-Wong 3 con) England 5 (Abigail Brown try). HT: 12-5. threaten with seven players, but New Zealand’s defence held.
They kept possession for almost all of the last three minutes to ensure they made amends for their gold medal match loss to South Africa at Glasgow in 2014. That result was the only time New Zealand had not claimed men’s sevens gold since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1998.