By Louis Anderson-Rich
Hello and welcome to the HSBC stadium on the Gold Coast where New Zealand have once again reached the cup final of an IRB sevens tournament, this time it’s against familiar foes Fiji.
Refresh your browser occasionally and we’ll tell you when we’ve added video highlights with a ‘VIDEO COMING SOON’ then ‘VIDEO UP’ when it’s ready to view.
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LIVE COMMENTARY… New Zealand 14 – 32 Fiji
VIDEO UP OF ALL MATCH ACTION
0 Min: Fiji miss the conversion and the ref blows the full-time whistle!
1 Min: Chance for NZ over on the left, again great defence from Fiji…but here is O’Donnell who spots a gap down the middle and strolls over, conversion taken quickly, goes over …NZ go back to Fiji with the restart and can’t win it…it looks like Fiji have taken the Gold Coast Sevens title, and too put the icing on the cake Tinai races away down the left, kicks ahead with three Kiwis chasing, regathers the kick and scores a TRY!
VIDEO OF LATEST ACTION UP
2 Min: New Zealand come away with the ball in their 22…big defence from Fiji though…penalty given to NZ taken quickly and Mikkelson breaks away on his own.
3 Min: Mikkelson with a huge pass over to Williams-Spiers who let’s the ball go out into touch. No chance of a comeback if they continue to play like that.
4 Min: Cama with the ball out to Mikkelson now Lahmert who gets away from one and passes off to DJ Forbes who had support but doesn’t give it…Fiji holding up very well in defence…Wasted chance for NZ who had numbers as they throw the ball away. Luckily ref blows the penalty so ball still with NZ.
5 Min: Yellow card shown to Waqatabu…here comes Iopu Iopu but another penalty to New Zealand…
6 Min: Here is Lehmert to Iopu Iopu now Williams-Spiers back inside to Cama who loses it and Botia picks it up, goes on a run and looks for the pass inside which is claimed by Tuatagaloa.
7 Min: Fiji miss the conversion again and finally New Zealand have some of the ball.
8 Min: Conversion missed, and Fiji have won a restart that didn’t look as though it had gone ten metres….Botia goes barrelling into Cama plays it to Raqamate who kicks ahead! Blitz’s past the defence! And scores the TRY! VIDEO UP
10 Min: New Zealand get the second half back underway and Fiji have the ball deep in their half…Tinai swings it over to Raitni now Domolailai, back to Raitini who is away down the left! He’ll go all the way! And that’s a TRY! VIDEO UP
VIDEO UP OF ALL FIRST HALF ACTION
0 Min: Fiji miss the conversion and that’s halftime! Be right back soon.
1 Min: Fiji get the conversion and Fiji are almost away again with Tinai down the left…Fiji within seven metres and it’s Raitini over on the right wing again with pace! He accelerates into the corner! TRY! VIDEO UP
2 Min: Fiji in their own 22 off the back of the scrum…kick ahead from Raitini and Botia is chasing! He’s gone all the way to 5 metres within the line! Now Domolailai has a crack! He doesn’t go over but the ball is recycled out the back for Levani Botia who goes over to score! TRY! VIDEO UP
3 Min: Easy lineout for NZ Lahmert goes to Cama, Fifji concede another penalty which is quickly taken by Cama….Lahmert loses the ball in the tackle and Fiji win a scrum.
4 Min: New Zealand kick for touch…they have the ball inside the 22.
5 Min: Scrum for Fiji…they win it go over o the right, caught up in the ruck and penalty awarded to NZ.
VIDEO UP OF LATEST ACTION
6 Min: Tomasi Cama gets the conversion.
7 Min: Straight off the kick-off and it’s well taken by Tim Mikkelson for New Zealand! And he is off down field! TRY! Just like that! VIDEO UP
8 Min: another quick tap for fiji and now the ball is thrown wide out to Raitini in the corner! TRY! VIDEO UP
9 Min: Another penalty for Fiji and they take it quickly, pressure on NZ…Fiji pressing hard at New Zealand’s line here is Raitini but the ref calls play back for another penalty.
10 Min: And we’re off! Fiji with the kick off and they’ve won the ball back. Early penalty to Fiji…Tomasi Cama gets a nasty bounce from a Fiji kick and he is tackled in the in-goal. 5 metre scrum for Fiji…
Rousing stuff, let’s get the Gold Coast Sevens cup final underway!
Please stand for the national anthems…
The ball has been delivered to the centre of the field and that is followed by the team…uncharacteristically it’s started raining on the GC.
22 times these two sides have met in cup finals. For overall World Series meetings, New Zealand have won 39 whilst Fiji have won 28.
Draw for Dubai sevens groups happening at the moment and the scenarios are…if New Zealand win the final then they have Kenya, Spain and Scotland in their group. If they lose then it is Argentina, Wales and Russia to play.
Not long to go until the cup final. South Africa just beat Kenya 41 – 7 in the third and fourth play-off game.
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Pregame Banter:
The New Zealand sevens side have once again reached a cup final, this time with the defence of their IRB sevens title in mind.
New Zealand staggered a little through the group stages, beating USA 19-7, Canada 28-21 and then losing to the South Africans 31-21.
New Zealand then had to battle their way past a plucky Argentina side 12-7.
Pushed hard throughout the tournament they were booked themselves a semi-final match against Kenya, who had upset Australia in their quarterfinal.
A 15-5 win saw them into a rematch of last year’s final against Fiji.
Fiji are the form team and had a slightly easier run on their way to the final with a 31-14 win over Scotland, a 35-7 win over Tonga and a narrow 14-15 loss to Australia in pool play.
Fiji bounced back from their final pool game loss to beat Samoa 19-7 in the quarterfinal, and then did very well to beat an in form South Africa side 21-10.
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