Seven times three = gold

New Zealand's sevens team celebrates winning the gold medal early today. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Chalk that up as three from three.

New Zealand's second gold medal of the Melbourne Games came after midnight last night after the Sevens team beat the Old Enemy, England, 29-21.

But the win in the final at Telstra Dome made it three Commonwealth Games rugby sevens gold medals from three.

New Zealand, who won gold in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Manchester in 2002, led 15-14 just after halftime but put the game beyond doubt with two tries in two minutes to Liam Messam and Josh Blackie. They scored five tries to three.

England had scored a major upset when they stunned Fiji 21-14 to advance to the final but New Zealand were just too good.

The 2006 season was supposed to see the New Zealand team deposed as world champions after winning six straight world titles. Gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games seemed as likely as free-flowing Auckland traffic. Wrong. The doomsayers reckoned without coach Gordon Tietjens, Blackie and the spirit and savvy that fuels the team.

Denied a strong Super 14 contingent by NZRU priority rules, Tietjens and his team still swept all before them to claim the gold by beating England and accounting for a strong Australian side - full of Super 14 talent - in the semi-final.

In the final, England kept pace early after Corey Jane scored from pressure after a Blackie break but the English hit back with a scorching individual try to international Mathew Tait, top tryscorer for the tournament. Blackie and Raikabula scored to build a 15-7 lead at the break.

In the second half, New Zealand made the game safe with two tries - to Liam Messam after playmaker Amasio Valence and Blackie, again, were involved and then Blackie broke through from the kick-off for a superb individual try.

But there was controversy away from the sporting field, when convicted killer Soulan Pownceby turned television comments man at the Commonwealth Games boxing arena.

Pownceby, jailed for the manslaughter of his five-month-old daughter Jeanette Rikihana, gave comments on the fight of teammate Joe Blackbourne who lost his opening fight to Scotland's Kris Carslaw.

But the NZ Olympic Committee has a firm policy: compete at Olympic and Commonwealth Games and not engage in media work.

"It has happened, it should not have happened, and it will not be happening again," a NZ team spokesman told the Herald last night.