Fiji win Pacific gold

Despite their inexperience, Australia began the final as favourites - not least following their comprehensive 26-5 win over the same opponents in the opening day of the tournament.

However the treacherous conditions at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Papua New Guinea had players sliding around with a ball like a piece of soap. The result was a final filled with tension, even though it was an error-strewn game. The opening couple of minutes in particular featured a high number of handling errors, before Georgie Friedrichs opened the scoring for the inexperienced Aussies with a try in the corner, butthe Fijians soon turned the game right around by levelling up just before the break before taking advantage of a Friedrichs yellow card to move 12-5 ahead with 75 seconds left on the clock.

Australia came back into the game in an desperately exciting final minute when a patient period of play in midfield between Laura Waldie and Dom Du Toit set Nicole Beck clear to dot down under the posts. However, afterGeorgie Friedrichs offered to take the kick,Beck took the responsibility for the vital kick to level the scores but sliced the conversion wide to the right of the posts. The game ended seconds later.

Australian Women's Sevens Head Coach Tim Walsh said: "For me the game was there to be won and I'm pretty disappointed that we couldn't get the Gold. Defensively we were fantastic, we covered the inside shoulders but in attack we just couldn't quite execute while our re-starts weren't on the mark.Eight of the team were on their national team debut and perhaps at times showed their inexperience - to play against a side [Fiji] that has a wealth of World Series experience behind them was always going to be a tough ask.

"Moving forward, the depth we are creating bodes well for the succession plan. We had a very young side out here and I'm hopeful that some of them will come through and be World Series players - and perhaps Olympians - for us.I felt given the amount of Rugby Sevens she has played previously that Mahalia Murphy showed glimpses of what she is capable of - good in both attack and defence. Sarah Holvorsen was reliable while it was great to see Brooke Anderson grow into the games in her own tenacious manner."

Walsh added: "The tournament perhaps opened the eyes of one or two players - it showed the level they need to be at if they are to represent Australia at World Series level but I'm sure this experience at the Pacific Games will motivate them."

Away from the top two teams, the sensation of the tournament was New Caledonia. The island group is technically part of France, so cannot normally compete independently as they cannot become members of World Rugby. Despite this they beat Tonga and drew with Samoa to eventually finish in fourth place - a remarkable performance for a territorywith only 14 registered adult players.

Results:

Day 1Australia 26-7 FijiPapua New Guinea 33-5 New CaledoniaSamoa 35-0 TahitiAustralia 22-5 New CaledoniaFiji 33-0 SamoaPapua New Guinea 10-7 TongaAustralia 59-0 TahitiPapua New Guinea 0-29 FijiNew Caledonia 17-10 TongaDay 2Australia 31-0 TongaFiji 45-0 TahitiNew Caledonia 5-5 SamoaAustralia 19-7 SamoaFiji 45-0 TongaPapua New Guinea 48-0 TahitiPapua New Guinea 0-19 AustraliaNew Caledonia 38-0 TahitiTonga 17-5 SamoaDay 3Fiji 52-0 New CaledoniaPapua New Guinea 10-5 SamoaTonga 41-0 Tahiti

Medal matches:Bronze: Papua New Guinea 15-0 New CaledoniaGold: Fiji 12-10 Australia