New Zealand rugby sevens head coach Gordon Tietjens has paid tribute to his side's long undefeated streak at the Commonwealth Games.

The All Blacks had won every single match at the Games since the sport was introduced in 1998 before finally falling to their first ever defeat at the hands of rivals South Africa in the gold-medal match yesterday.

The 17-12 loss saw their streak of 29 consecutive wins come to an end as they missed out on Commonwealth gold for the first time, but Tietjens was keen to acknowledge his side's "magnificent" record.

"It's just magnificent. The result, when you're looking at [winning] 29 out of 30 games at the Commonwealth Games, that's a real good record to have," he told Sports Mole.

"It was going to happen one day, and unfortunately it happened [on Sunday]. But we can be proud of coming away with the silver medal, I think that's a great achievement."

Tietjens has been in charge of the team for every single one of their Commonwealth Games successes having taken over in 1994.