New Zealand retain Commonwealth rugby sevens title
New Zealand won their fourth consecutive Commonwealth rugby sevens gold medal after beating Australia 24-17 in the final.
Despite the absence of star player Tomasi Cama, New Zealand started the match stronger and Lote Raikabula scored the first try of the game as he broke through the Wallabies defence and touched down.
New Zealand’s Liam Messam was given a yellow card and this handed the initiative to Australia who struggled with the All Blacks fast start.
Winger Lachie Turner was able to take advantage of the extra man and scored for Australia to narrow the lead to 7-5.
Luke Morahan gave Australia the lead for the first time in the match after he chipped the ball over the New Zealand defence before re-gathering his kick and touching down to give Australia a 10-7 lead at the break.
A break and run by James Stannard gave Australia a 17-7 lead and it appeared that the All Blacks would lose in the Commonwealth rugby sevens for the first time in their history.
Australia looked like they would go on to dominate the match, but the Wallabies appeared unsure of their position and failed to kill off the game.
New Zealand fought back and substitute Sherwin Stowers was instrumental in turning the game. Stowers showed good speed and running in the loose and outpaced the Australia defence to score his first try of the game.
This gave the All Blacks more confidence and they started to take control of the game and dominate possession.
DJ Forbes awareness and support play allowed him to receive a simple off load and run in a try to put the New Zealanders back into a 19-17 lead.
The New Zealand team had been overwhelming favourites to retain their Commonwealth Games title and their ability to snatch the lead demoralised the Australians who could not take advantage of their position.
With only a few minutes of play left Australia were forced to attack and this left gaps at the back. The Australians appeared tired after losing the lead and Kurt Baker exploited this as he scored a try to extend New Zealand’s lead to 24-17 in what was the
last play of the game.
New Zealand will return to Auckland as the victories Commonwealth rugby sevens championship. The other sides will be encouraged by Australia’s display and will seek to end the All Blacks dominance at the next Commonwealth Games.
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