Brazier’s run earns historic gold for NZ
GOLD COAST: Kelly Brazier ran and ran and ran, until her lungs were bursting and her legs were screaming in pain and she could run no more.
And then she flopped over the tryline.
Brazier’s 80m extratime stunner enabled the Black Ferns Sevens to claim Commonwealth Games gold, defeating Australia 1712 in a colossal decider.
Finishing regular time at 1212, both sides had extratime opportunities but failed to take advantage until Brazier collected the ball near her own 22m line, jinked past her defender and galloped home.
Coming after the halftime siren for the first extratime period, the 28yearold Brazier’s effort surprised everyone — not least herself.
‘‘I’m probably not the quickest but I pride myself on a bit of fitness so obviously, 19 minutes in, I had a look around and was like, it’s now or nothing — just went for it and had a few chasing but thought, ah, I’m gonna go,’’ Brazier said.
‘‘All I could feel was my lungs going up and down, so I was just worried about trying to catch my breath back, and then the girls jumped on top of me.’’
Without doubt, Australia will rue a host of missed opportunities.
Pegging back New Zealand’s 120 lead after Portia Woodman and Michaela Blyde tries, the Australians had a chance to win after speedster Ellia Green’s late effort but Emma Sykes could not nail the conversion.
Each side was nervous in extra time. Australia came close when Kiwi Niall Williams pulled off a miracle tackle to haul in Dom du Toit.
Then, with everything on the line, Brazier collected the ball in an innocuous position, saw no passing options and pinned her ears back.
‘‘Paid off in the end,’’ the midfielder said.
‘‘It probably wasn’t [clear I’d made it] until I was actually over the line and I was dead. They tried to pull me up but I was just a bit of a dead weight.’’
Brazier was born and bred in Dunedin and attended Otago Girls’ High School. She played her club rugby for AlhambraUnion and debuted for the Otago Spirit at just 15yearsold, although she now turns out for the Bay of Plenty.