All Blacks Sevens relegated to bronze medal match after coughing up 14-0 lead

Kick the ball out and settle for a 14-0 lead at halftime?

Never.

That’s All Blacks Sevens coach Clark Laidlaw’s take, despite the All Blacks Sevens getting torched attempting to add to their lead halfway through what ended an agonising semifinal loss to Fiji at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games on Monday morning (NZT).

“No. It’s just not us, is it?” he said moments after Fiji captain Waisea Nacuqu dashed 80 metres against his five-man team to secure a remarkable 19-14 win in sudden-death extra time.

It marked just the second Commonwealth Games defeat for the All Blacks Sevens in history, a bitter blow to the team which won five of the previous six titles since the sport joined the Games in 1998.

“Old captain hindsight. You give away an intercept and everyone starts looking at that. We’re really confident we’d score from that scrum, and if you do it’s 21-0 and almost game over.”

Only they didn’t.

Up 14-0 and in control of the match after the halftime hooter had sounded, the All Blacks launched an attack from a midfield scrum, one Fijian Filipe Sauturaga intercepted and took to the house.

To make matters worse, Scott Curry pinged his hamstring in pursuit of Sautruaga, forcing him to leave the paddock at halftime.

Clutching his hamstring on the bench, he could only watch on as Fiji scored one of the tries of the competition to knot the game up with three minutes remaining.

The drama was only just beginning.

A wonky Fijian lineout gifted New Zealand a prime opportunity to book their ticket to the gold medal match, only for Tone Ng Shiu to get ahead of himself and drop the ball cold inside the 22.

Moments later, the All Blacks Sevens were reduced to five men after Akuila Rokolosia (deliberate knockdown) and Leroy Carter (late tackle) were binned.

Somehow, they denied a Fijian raid on their line at the end of regulation. But, still down two players, the dagger came almost immediately after New Zealand kicked off extra time.

“Gutted as,” captain Sam Dickson said. “It’s going to hurt for a long time.”

He’d just missed Samoan players, amped by Fiji’s win, running past the media area hooting and hollering at the result, one it seemed almost everyone at the 32,000 capacity ground were desperate for.

“One crucial mistake let them right back in, and that’s exactly what you don’t want against Fiji,” Dickson rued.

“Obviously, two yellow cards at the end really hurt. It was all off our own mistakes, we had chances there to win it and control the game, and we just weren’t good enough.”

Sound familiar?

Indeed, just like the Black Ferns Sevens in their semifinal, they couldn’t deliver in the clutch when faced with the opportunity.

Now, having rolled into Birmingham as two of New Zealand’s prime gold medal hopes, both must pick themselves up for bronze medal matches on Monday.

“I’m not sure. Never had one before. We’ll have to let it sink in. It’s tough to take at the minute, but that is sevens,” Laidlaw, New Zealand’s coach since 2017, said of the fixture against Australia.

“We’ve got a lot of respect for the Commonwealth Games, we’ve got a lot of respect for ourselves…we’ll dust ourselves off and get ready for that game.”