The All Blacks Sevens have gone down 19-14 to Fiji in a golden point thriller with two late yellow cards coming back to haunt them.
After surviving early pressure from the Fijians in the opening minute of the contest, the All Blacks Sevens begun to move the ball around in search of a hole in the defence to break the deadlock at Coventry.
A stoppage in play for a head knock to a Fijian player gave them the perfect window of opportunity to do just that, as they were awarded a scrum to restart play in an attacking position deep in the Fijian half.
A slick backline move off the scrum led to the opening try with Regan Ware dotting down in the right corner.
To make matters better for the Kiwi outfit, Fiji's Kaminieli Rasaku was yellow-carded in the play after he hit Ware with a high shot as the winger dove in to score, meaning the All Blacks Sevens had the lead and a one-man advantage for the next two minutes.
They made the most of it with Ware slicing through the stretched Fijian line to score a second under the posts after a patient build up from his teammates.
The All Blacks Sevens looked to be in full control heading into the break, however a mental lapse after the hooter gifted Fiji a way back into the game as an easy intercept off a scrum allowed Filipe Sauturaga to run away to score and make the deficit 14-7 at the half.
After controlling the ball for a whopping four minutes to start the second half, a patient Fijian outfit finally made good on multiple penalties and found a break in the New Zealand line to tie up the match with Sevuloni Mocenacagi going in to equalise the thrilling semi-final.
Getting their first chance to attack off the restart, the All Blacks Sevens were pinned down inside their 22 looking to crack the Fijian line and it took a superb run from Caleb Tangitau to do it but an equally-great one-on-one tackled bundled him into touch and denied him a game winner.
That saw the match still tied as the final hooter went with Fiji in control of the ball and in desperation, Akuila Rokolisoa attempted a wild intercept for the All Blacks Sevens to seal the match but he couldn't control the ball and was yellow-carded for it.
Things then got even worse for New Zealand with Leroy Carter also sinbinned controversially as he was deemed to have taken out a player while making a tackle as his marked man kicked the ball ahead.
That gave Fiji a penalty near New Zealand's line and two extra men to work with but as Fiji looked to score, the All Blacks Sevens were given a reprieve as the referee penalised the Pacific powerhouse for an extra roll as they scored.
As a result, despite the disadvantage, the All Blacks Sevens managed to send the match to golden point.
Winning the toss and opting to kick, New Zealand looked to pin down Fiji in their half while still at a player deficit but the Flying Fijians never gave them a chance, running 90m from the kickoff to score the gamewinner in the opening seconds of extra time.
It means the All Blacks Sevens now join their female counterparts in playing for bronze on Monday morning.
SHARE ME