A slow start cost the All Blacks Sevens dearly as they slumped to a 29-12 defeat to Fiji in the Rugby World Cup Sevens final in Cape Town this morning.

There was no shortage of drama, with three yellow cards issued in the second half – two to Fiji and one to New Zealand – but it quickly became apparent that it was going to take something special to knock over Fiji.

Unfortunately for the New Zealanders they couldn’t produce their best when they needed it most – especially against a team that was as clinical as Fiji.

Tears streamed down the Fiji players’ faces after the final whistle when they realised their five tries, and excellent tackle technique, had been enough to shut out the Kiwis.

Fiji took off out of the blocks in impressive fashion, grabbing early tries to Joseva Talacolo and Kaminieli Rasaku to make the New Zealander sweat in the first couple of minutes.

The New Zealanders surged back quickly – which would have been a relief to their fans in the crowd – with a five-pointer to Moses Leo but the Fijians were resilient and pugnacious as they feasted on missed tackles and mistakes from the men in black.

Elia Canakaivata and Filipe Sauturaga compounded the New Zealanders’ woes, the latter darting over bang on halftime to give Fiji a 24-5 lead.

New Zealand coach Clark Laidlaw told his men at halftime to keep chipping away at their opponents, and no-one could say his players weren’t listening. It was just that they had few solutions on how to crack the resolute tackle-line that was constructed by their opponents.

Akuila Rokolisoa kept New Zealand’s hopes alive when he crossed over the chalk soon after the restart, and there was better news to come when the officials deemed Fiji deserved to have a man sent to the sin bin for two minutes for a high tackle.

Fiji’s ill-discipline was to, again, come under the spotlight when another man was marched for a two-minute rest. Not that New Zealand were immune to getting offside with the whistler, when it was ruled that Rokolisoa had obstructed an opponent with about four minutes left on the clock.

He was yellow carded, leaving New Zealand with even more work to do.

As the time ticked over, however, it became evident that New Zealand were going to pay the price for their slow start.

They simply couldn’t build enough momentum to make Fiji lose their composure.

Fiji, the Tokyo Olympic gold medallists, deserved this victory. It was their third world title.