A try-saving tackle by Josefa Talacolo saved the Fiji Airways men’s 7s team from losing to South Africa 19-12 in the quarter-final of the Singapore 7s last night.
South Africa had the advantage in the last two minutes and hoping to score on the side, but unfortunately Jerry Tuwai and Talacolo were too strong and stopped them from scoring.
Fiji scored two tries in the first half to take a positive lead.
The first try was awarded to Vuiviawa Naduvalo after a slow start from both teams, and a conversion from Waisea Nacuqu extended their lead 7-0.
Fiji played its own style of game after a series of passes from Nacuqu who ran past five defenders and setting up a space for Joseva Talacolo to score just less than a minute after the first try.
South Africa hit back as Zain Davids managed a converted try just a few minutes before halftime.
Fiji led 12-7 at halftime.
Fiji knew what was expected from them and played their hearts out, Nacuqu ran past three defenders to score another try just a minute into the whistle.
The Ba native converted his own try to extend the scores.
South Africa, however, never gave up and kept pushing their luck with Captain Siviwe Soyizwapi scoring an unconverted try to narrow the gap.
South Africa missed a lot of chances to score more tries as it could not withstand Fiji’s strong defensive tackles.
Captain Tevita Daugunu said he was happy with the players’ performance.
“The boys knew how much we wanted to win over South Africa and we played really hard,” he said.
“It has been a long time then we played the Blitzboks and we are really happy to beat them in the quarter-finals. We will come back better and stronger in the semis.”
