NZ locks out Fiji to reclaim Games title
New Zealand becomes the first women’s rugby sevens champion at the Commonwealth Games, after disappointments in the 2016 Rio Olympics final and recent World Sevens Series events.
The Ferns had earlier defeated England 265 in the semifinals, with the latter taking bronze after a 2419 win over Canada.
Brazier was chuffed to secure her own slice of history.
‘‘Rio, it was massive. I’ve probably seen it in the girls in the past year’s performances. It wasn’t a nice feeling so we came here wanting to go one better, and we did that,’’ Brazier said. — NZN GOLD COAST: The All Blacks Sevens completed a Commonwealth Games clean sweep for New Zealand with a 140 final win over Fiji yesterday.
Fresh off their female counterparts’ 1712 final win over Australia, the Kiwi men did it far more easily against Fiji, dominating from start to finish.
The Fijians barely had a sniff at the tryline. Etene NanaiSeturo and Regan Ware scored New Zealand’s two tries to secure gold and reclaim the Games title after losing in the 2014 final to South Africa.
England took bronze after coming from behind to beat South Africa 2114.
The Kiwis roared out of the blocks, scoring within two minutes after prodigy NanaiSeturo jinked past two defenders to dot down.
Ware — who scored two tries in the side’s 1712 semifinal win over England — scored his side’s second through the middle, before Fijian Sevuloni Mocenecagi was yellowcarded for a high tackle.
The Kiwis were unable to take advantage of Mocenecagi’s absence, when Ware spilled the ball over the line, but never looked likely to concede.
Keeping the ball for long secondhalf spells and limiting Fiji’s chances to attack from deep, New Zealand saw out the match — and Games — at a canter.
On Saturday, the Kiwi men breezed through their pool play with a 540 win over Zambia, 407 win over Kenya and 337 victory over Canada.— NZN