New Zealand won a record fourth consecutive gold in the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens on Tuesday, defeating rivals Australia 24-17 in a closely fought final.
Australia came the closest of any team in the competition to match the pace and power of the Kiwi team, and led 17-7 during the second half until three tries in succession shattered their bid for gold.
“It was awesome. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t, but the boys pulled through,” Kiwi flyer Hosea Gear, whose brother Rico won gold in 1998, said afterwards.
After picking up their medals, the team stripped to the waist and performed a celebratory Haka, the country’s traditional rugby dance routine, before they were mobbed by dozens of enthusiastic Games volunteers.
Captain DJ Forbes admitted the gold medal record had been in the back of the players’ minds during the two-day tournament that saw them crush Wales in the quarter-finals and England in the semis.
“There’s been a lot of pressure on the boys to get the fourth gold medal, but any time you come into a New Zealand team there’s pressure on you to do well,” he said.
Try-scorer Kurt Baker said the victory over southern hemisphere rivals Australia was extra sweet.
“It makes it a bit more exciting beating the Aussies,” he joked.
Australia were disappointed not to end on the top of the podium after their best performance of the Games, with Wallabies winger Lachie Turner capping a fine tournament with a try in the first half and a try-saving tackle in the second.
“I’ll look back on this with fond memories and wear my silver medal with pride,” he told reporters.
Australian coach Michael O’Connor regretted his team had fallen short in the final minutes of the game, but paid tribute to New Zealand’s clinical finishing.
“We were right in it to the end. There are lots of ifs and buts, but they were probably just too good in the end. I’m very proud of how our boys acquitted themselves,” he said.
“You’re always looking for gold but we’ll take silver.”
South Africa won bronze after beating a disappointing England side, who were unable to reproduce the form that led them to a victory over Australia in the pool games on Monday.
The South Africans came from behind to clinch a 17-14 victory in the final minutes with a try by Lubabalo Mtembu. They trailed 14-5 at half-time before a converted try by the impressive Cecil Afrika hauled them back into the contest.
New Zealand have won every Commonwealth Games competition since the sport was introduced in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur.
Their path was eased this time round by the absence of twice silver medallists Fiji, who are banned from taking part after being suspended from the Commonwealth after a military coup in 2006.
Wales, Kenya, Samoa and Scotland all bowed out at the quarter-final stage of the tournament at the newly built 10,000-capacity stadium at Delhi University.
Rugby tickets have been sold out for weeks, but the stadium was barely at a third capacity for most of Tuesday despite the array of top-class athletes on display.
There was a carnival atmosphere at the end, however, as a lively crowd chanted for a haka, which was duly supplied on both sides of the stadium.
Poor crowds have been a theme of the Delhi Games, which have been dogged by accidents and organisational problems blamed on the rushed preparations for the event because of construction delays.
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