It took a review by the television match official (TMO) in the midst of a 17-all tie in the dying seconds of the game between Fiji and France in the cup semi-final of the Hong Kong 7s to give the French a victory at Kai Tak Stadium last night.
The Fiji Airways Fiji men’s 7s team were beaten by the French in a match of shifting dominance which got down to the wire when a heavily contested ball at Fiji’s try-line slipped into the hands of France’s Mateo Garcia as he stamped it past the line.
Following the match, head coach Osea Kolinisau remarked the team could have taken advantage of their possession of the ball.
“We kicked away two possessions, we could have capitalised on that but the game could have gone either way,” Kolinisau shared.
He then reflected on the one opportunity the team had in the second half when Sakiusa Siqila fed in the ball during the scrum.
“We had that last opportunity (with) 30 seconds to go in the scrum and we lost that opportunity and France took that opportunity and scored from that,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Iowane Teba is suspected to have had an injury during the match since he appeared to stride towards the try-line with a limp and handed the ball over to Rauto Vakadranu.
The Fiji 7s team began the match by drawing first blood against the French with a converted try from Joseva Talacolo in the second minute, answered by the French with a try from Gregoire Arfeuil.
A subsequent French try from Andy Timo gave away to another try for Fiji by Iowane Teba in the ninth minute.
Vakadranu scored Fiji’s final try in the match.
Meanwhile, the team ventured into the third place play-offs against Australia.The team faced them at 9.38pm.
