BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND — Australia’s women claimed Commonwealth Games rugby sevens gold for the first time on Sunday after their extra-time heartache four years ago, before South Africa’s men were crowned champions for the second time.
Australia raced into a 17-0 half-time lead in the women’s gold medal match and, despite a spirited fightback from Fijiana, ran out 22-12 winners to add Commonwealth Games gold to their Rio 2016 Olympic triumph, RWC Sevens 2009 and HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 title.
Faith Nathan ran in a pair of tries alongside scores from Madison Ashby and Maddison Levi to secure gold for Australia.
Australia’s Sharni Williams was delighted with the win: “It hasn’t really sunk in for me. I think the win over New Zealand was huge for us. Going into this… it was about that belief and figuring out that we weren’t just about that last game against Fiji.
“We believe in each other, we’ve done the work and we’ve fought through COVID. You know what’s expected. We have that accountability and whatever comes our way we deal with together.”
The men’s gold medal match was a one-sided affair as South Africa dominated from the start to take a 24-0 lead over Fiji thanks to tries from tournament top scorer Angelo Davids, JC Pretorius, Shaun Williams and Muller du Plessis before Waisea Naqucu replied for Fiji, but Mfundo Ndhlovu ran in a fifth try for South Africa at the death to seal a comprehensive 31-7 victory.
It was a second gold medal for South Africa, having triumphed in their previous appearance in the showpiece match in Glasgow in 2014.
South Africa coach Neil Powell said: “It was an amazing performance from the guys. I’m really happy for the team that they got their reward for all the hard work they’ve put in over the last weeks before we came over to England. They are a great bunch of guys who fight for each other, for the team and for the system and I’m very proud of them.
“It was great to play in front of a full capacity and an amazing atmosphere here. We’ve got two big tournaments coming up including the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town where we will have 55,000 people in the stadium with the same energy and hopefully the result will be the same.”
New Zealand were unable to repeat their double gold medal success from Gold Coast 2018 and had to settle for bronze in both the women’s and men’s events in Coventry.
The Black Ferns Sevens overcame a spirited Canada 19-12 while the All Blacks Sevens, who had won gold at five of the previous six Commonwealth Games, beat Australia 26-12 in a hotly contested men’s bronze medal match.
World Rugby Media Release
Photo Credit: World Rugby
