The Fiji Airways men’s sevens team were on a victorious trifecta after winning all their pool matches against Spain, New Zealand and the United States for the HSBC Dubai 7s last Saturday.
Fiji defeated Spain 21-15 after seizing control of the match following a halftime deficit of 7-10, made possible through tries by Kavekini Tanivanuakula, Terio Tamani and George Bose.
In their second pool against USA, they won 42-20, thanks to tries made by Sevuloni Mocenacagi, Filipe Sauturaga, Iowane Teba and two made by Joji Nasova.
Fiji emerged triumphantly with a 21-12 win over New Zealand in their final pool match to seal a spot in the cup quarter finals.
Terio Tamani, Pilipo Bukayaro, Filipe Sauturaga fielded three converted tries for Fiji in that match.
Despite the victory, head coach Osea Kolinisau acknowledged the weaknesses noted in the match, in an interview with the Fiji Rugby Union.
“In that last game (against New Zealand), we had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t capitalise on, we capitalised on three opportunities (and) there were more we could have capitalised on,” Kolinisau stated.
“We talked about it with the boys that they can do better and we can do better when we go through to the quarter-finals and make sure we execute when we get an opportunity and we make use of.”
The team would face France in the cup quarter final, and the clash was a repeat of the gold medal match in the 2024 Paris Olympics where Fiji won the silver medal after a humbling 7-28 defeat.
The Dubai 7s finals were played this morning.
