The All Blacks Sevens have had to settle for second place in their first tournament in nearly two years, defeated 28-17 by Fiji in the final of the Singapore leg of the world series.
Advancing to the final with a thrilling 22-19 semi-final victory over Ireland, the NZ men were on the back foot immediately against their archrivals, as Vuiviawa Naduvalo opened the scoring after just two minutes.
Waisea Nacuqu scored Fiji's second try not long after, before Joseava Talacolo added a third on the stroke of halftime, with New Zealand trailing 21-0 at the break.
To make matters worse, Leroy Carter was shown a yellow card for an intentional knock-on in the lead-up to Talacolo's try.
An unconverted try to Regan Ware after the break put the All Blacks Sevens on the board, but Fiji to hit back through Naduvalo's second.
Leo made up for his yellow card with a try before fulltime, while Caleb Tangitau scored New Zealand's third - nothing more than a consolation, as Fiji took their first tournament win since January 2020.
Despite the final defeat, the outcome was a successful one for the All Blacks Sevens, who have been on hiatus since claiming silver at last year's Tokyo Olympics, where they also lost to Fiji in the final.
"We can be proud of our efforts," captain Sam Dickson said. "We had five debutants in this tournament, and they all did extremely well and did the black jersey proud, so we will take a lot away from it."
The series now heads to Vancouver for next weekend's sixth round, where New Zealand have happy memories, after claiming the title in their last visit to Canada in 2020.
