Black Ferns Sevens back up Commonwealth Games gold with emphatic World Sevens Series win

The Black Ferns Sevens have beaten France 24-12 in the final of the Kitakyushu Sevens to cap off an incredible few weeks of competition.

Captain Sarah Goss said the last fortnight had been 'absolutely amazing'.

"We've just won back-to-back golds so we can't get a better month than what we've just been through," she said.

The team spent two weeks together in the build-up to its Commonwealth Games win before travelling straight to the Kitakyushu Sevens in Japan. It’s the first time this year the team has spent more than a week together in preparation and Goss credits that for turning around the sides disappointments at the Dubai and Sydney tournaments.

"It's the way the girls are, they've trained the house down and when they've got into tournament mode they've just worried about themselves and we've been able to show mana and heart out there and that's all we can ask of this team.

She said they had been disappointed with the way they started the season but had to finish strong if they wanted to retain the world series title.

"The way we're going at the moment, the more time we spend together the better off we're going to be for the Canada leg."

Coach Allan Bunting said the side always wanted to do well but to perform so well at the Commonwealth Games last week and then to follow up with the win in Japan was 'pretty special'.

"I think the last couple of weeks we have done a lot of learning and growing and we have got some really good foundations in our programme and those foundations are building towards Tokyo [2020 Olympic Games] which is great.

"It is great for the game [to see other teams challenging]. These teams spend a lot of time working really hard and trying to get better and to see teams progress a little bit further is great for the game and it just shows that you have got to do well every game, you can't go to sleep at all because every team is after you.

"Some of the teams did really well, especially Spain, and it's good to see China on the series and they did really well also," he said.

The next tournament takes place in Langford, Canada from May 12-13.