Fijian gold at Pacific Games

Fiji beat the tournament favourites - a young Australian team described as the "next geneation" by the ARU - in the final of a tournament that also saw American Samoa make their debut, the the 138th nation to play women's international sevens.

Fiji scored and converted a try in the first minute against Australia, and kept their advantage from then out, as the Samoan crowd cheered them on in Pacific island solidarity.

Australia responded bit could not convert their try, and Fiji were able to keep them at arms length to the end, even amid vaguely farcical scenes as a dog ran onto the pitch and evaded capture by the stewards for several minutes in the second half.

This was the third time the quadenial games had featured women's sevens, and the third time that Fiji had won gold. The final was also a repeat of the 2015 final, when a similarly young Australian team lost in the final.

Papua New Guinea won bronze, beating the Samoan hosts 28-12.

Results12-13 July

Pool A:Australia 61-0 American Samoa; Samoa 20-0 New Caledonia; Samoa 41-0 American Samoa; Australia 45-0 New Caledonia; New Caledonia 29-5 American Samoa; Australia 38-0 Samoa

Pool B:Fiji 42-0 Solomon Islands; Papua New Guinea 47-0 Nauru; Papua New Guinea 53-0 Solomon Islands; Fiji 58-0 Nauru; Nauru 27-0 Solomon Islands; Fiji 38-5 Papua New Guinea

Quarter-Final:Australia 50-0 Solomon Islands; Papua New Guinea 40-0 New Caledonia; Samoa 41-5 Nauru; American Samoa 0-59 Fiji

5th-8th Place Semi Final:Solomon Islands 10-15 New Caledonia; Nauru 22-5 American Samoa

Semi-Final:Australia 31-7 Papua New Guinea; Samoa 0-31 Fiji

7th Place Match:Solomon Islands 19-5 American Samoa

5th Place Match:New Caledonia 19-12 Nauru

3rd place:Samoa 12-28 Papua New Guinea

Final:Australia 5-14 Fiji

Australian squad:Lauren Brown; Rhiannon Byers; Kennedy Cherrington; Madison Higgins-Ashby; Eva Karpani; Charlotte Kennington; Page McGregor; Yasmin Meakes; Hagiga Mosby; Faith Nathan; Cassie Staples; Jakiya Whitfeld

Fijian squad:Not pubished