Double rugby gold for NZ
gold coast — Watching New Zealand’s women win the first rugby sevens Commonwealth Games title had inspired the men’s team to complete a golden double against their respective Rio Olympic champions on Sunday, Tim Mikkelson said.
The World Cup holders in the shortened version of the game had not been favoured in either final after some inconsistent performances on the world sevens circuits.
Facing a ferociously partisan crowd in the women’s final against Australia, Kelly Brazier’s 60-metre dash deep into extra-time had given the New Zealand women a 17-12 victory.
The men’s team then followed that up with a 14-0 win over Fiji to clinch their fifth Commonwealth Games title. “We watched the women go into overtime and their win at the end really inspired us to get the double,” Mikkelson said. “It’s pretty satisfying.”
Brazier’s dash had earlier silenced a boisterous local crowd at Robina Stadium, so they switched their support to Fiji for the men’s decider.
However, New Zealand quietened them once more by jumping out to a 14-0 lead against the Rio champions inside the first four minutes and were never really threatened thereafter. —