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Gordon Tietjens and his sevens team have given New Zealand rugby a dose of the feel-good factor as the sport sets about removing the dark spectre of 2007.
A nailbiting 22-17 final win over Samoa in Wellington yesterday capped a dominant two days for the New Zealanders at Westpac Stadium, continuing their perfect start to the International Rugby Board (IRB) series through three rounds.
Most of the party-hard crowd of 35,000 stayed to enjoy a New Zealand victory lap that consisted of at least seven rousing haka - the sort of scenes that will bring cheer to the collective rugby fraternity four months after the All Blacks' World Cup failure.
"We've had a pretty tough year," veteran coach Tietjens said. "We didn't win the World Cup that we all wanted so much to win.
"I believe this is what we needed in New Zealand rugby to get us back on top. It was great that the sevens team could do that, in front of the support that we had. We'll never lose our support in this country."
Hometown hero Victor Vito broke a 17-17 deadlock with a decisive try in the final act of the game after defending champions Samoa - the only team to expose any chinks in the expertly drilled New Zealand outfit - led 17-12 midway through the second spell, courtesy of an outrageous dropped goal by Lolo Lui.
Tietjens remembered how a dropped goal had spurred the Samoans to victory in last year's final in Wellington so he was delighted with how his team maintained composure and responded through tries to Steven Yates and Vito's second.
The 20-year-old winger was all muscle and determination when he received the ball on the left flank, using his pace and power to blast past Simaika Mikaele, before being mobbed by his teammates.
"That final move to score the winning try was something you practise and I suppose, as a coach, there comes a time when you have to use one of those moves.
"It was great, particularly with Victor out wide," Tietjens said, praising the remarkable contribution of the Wellingtonian whose first try was an outrageous 60m effort that accounted for three defenders.
"As soon as Victor Vito scored that try I said to someone, 'Super 14, on his way'. That was the first thing that went into my mind. That's what sevens is all about. He'll be on everyone's tongues now, Victor Vito, just the way that he played."
Tietjens was then quick to praise the contribution of every member of his side. They were untouchable through their first five games, including a 19-7 pool defeat of Samoa late on Friday and routs of Wales, 40-5 in the quarterfinal, and Australia, 32-7 in the semifinal.
DJ Forbes, Edwin Cocker and Yates were arguably the three best forwards at the tournament.
Experienced backs Lote Raikabula and Zar Lawrence lacked the electric pace of some of their rivals but executed with accuracy and inevitably made the right decisions.
"It's special, winning your own one," Tietjens said. "There's the pressures you've got to battle right throughout the week and also the expectations, just to get to the final.
"And it was a spectacular final. There were some great tries and it was very physical. Nothing less was expected really."
Pesamino, a candidate for player of the tournament with eight tries, scored the first Samoan try and set up the second with his startling pace.
Yates and Vito were on the next line of tournament tryscorers with six each.
New Zealand's effort was diminished slightly by the poor returns of their traditional rivals.
England and Argentina were eliminated in pool play while Fiji and South Africa were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Samoa and Tonga, respectively.
New Zealand now have a 24-point buffer going into the San Diego tournament next weekend.
- NZPA
