Rush has desire to play on

World sevens kings New Zealand retained their Commonwealth Games title at City of Manchester Stadium - and once again consigned arch-rivals Fiji to the silver medal.

The overwhelming tournament favourites won a thrilling final 33-15 thanks to late tries from Craig De Goldi, Bruce Reihana and Roger Randle.

They even clinched gold minus the services of inspirational skipper and sevens legend Eric Rush, who was injured during a bruising semi-final victory over Samoa.

Fiji, beaten by New Zealand in the 1998 Commonwealth final, had their moments and led 15-14 with barely a minute of normal time remaining.

But they ultimately paid the price for having Saisi Fuli sent off by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson for a late second-half tackle on Brad Fleming, and they were reduced to five men by the end after Jope Tuikabe was sin-binned.

South Africa took the bronze medal, defeating Samoa 19-12, while England were plate competition winners and Scotland lifted the bowl for pool stage casualties.

In the end, rugby's sevens formbook held true, with New Zealand a class above any of the other 15 competing countries.

"It was probably worse watching than actually being out there," said Rush.

"We put a lot of hard work in, and trained three months for this. We did it the hard way, because we had to play a lot of the top sides, so it was really pleasing to get through those games and win the gold."

New Zealand made a flying start to the final when Mils Muliaina dived over for a first-minute try which Reihana converted.

Fiji though, were in mood to play second fiddle, and Tuikabe smashed through New Zealand's defence for a try which cut the deficit to 7-5 midway through the opening period.

New Zealand, who beat Fiji 33-20 in Kuala Lumpur four years ago, quickly conceded a second try when Harlequins-bound Viliame Satala touched down, and Serevi slotted the simple conversion.

Back came the men in black though, delighting their sizeable contingent of supporters among a capacity 38,000 crowd as Craig Newby crossed wide out. Reihana's conversion edged New Zealand 14-12 ahead at half-time.

Fiji suffered a hammer-blow midway through the second period when Fuli was red-carded by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson, leaving them to play more than five minutes with a one man short.

New Zealand sensed they had a critical advantage, yet Fiji kept pressing and Serevi opted to kick a penalty chance from 25 metres which sailed between the posts.

It was the first penalty kick at goal in the entire three-day tournament, but put Fiji 15-14 ahead with time running out.

The closing stages provided gripping entertainment, and New Zealand just had enough left in the tank through De Goldi's try and another Reihana conversion.

Referee Dickinson played three minutes of injury time, which added to the tension as Serevi probed for an opening, but Reihana finished off the job - complete with celebratory dive - and conversion, before Randle claimed their final try after Tuikabe had been sin-binned.