New Zealand shut out Olympic champions Fiji 14-0 to seal a gold medal double at the Commonwealth Games after winning the inaugural women's title in extra-time on Sunday. New Zealand's fifth victory in six finals at the Games came after their women's team downed Australia 17-12 in sudden-death. Kelly Brazier's sudden-death try from inside her own half sealed the thrilling victory for the Kiwi women.
The men's final wasn't anywhere as exciting as the clinical New Zealanders killed off the game with two early converted tries against a ragged Fiji. "We watched the women go into overtime and their win at the end really inspired us to get the double," skipper Tim Mikkelsen said. "Not many guys in this team would know the feeling of a gold medal. I got one in Delhi (2010) and was part of the team that lost in Glasgow, so to get this win is amazing."
Fiji, who won last week's Hong Kong sevens, were bidding for their first Commonwealth gold after taking silver behind New Zealand in the inaugural sevens in 1998 and again in 2002. Etene Nanai-Seturo opened the scoring for New Zealand after two minutes and Vilimoni Koroi's conversion gave them a 7-0 lead. Tournament topscorer Regan Ware weaved through a woeful Fijian defence, slipping tackles to score New Zealand's second try near the posts for a 14-0 advantage.
Fiji lost Sevuloni Mocenacagi to a yellow card for a high hit but had a let-off during his absence when Ware was over the try-line but spilled the ball. The Kiwis comfortably wound down the clock for victory and the gold medal. England stormed back from 0-14 down at half-time with skipper Tom Mitchell scoring the winning try to take the bronze medal 21-14 over South Africa.
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