Turning a 21-22 defeat into a 28-22 victory in what was virtually the last move of the final match, Fiji clinched their third straight HSBC World Rugby Sevens tournament in a row, last evening.

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Fiji win the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens.

At the beginning of the match, Fiji had raced to a 14-0 lead with two quick tries from Waisea Nacuqu, both of which were followed by successful conversions. 

At that point in time, I thought that had looked as though Fiji would be cruising to an easy victory. But by the time the first half ended though, Australia had clawed back, closing the gap to 14-10 thanks to two tries from Dylan Pietsch and Maurice Longbottom.

But then, after the break, Fiji hit back again with a try by team captain Jerry Tuwai to lead 21-10.

Refusing to be defeated though, Australia then replied, thanks to a try from Brandon Quinn and this was successfully converted by John Porch.

The scoreline was now 21-17 and the time was quickly running down.

And with just 24 seconds on the clock left to go, Porch delivered the most outrageous finish, scoring a try in the left land corner of the field.

The winning try.

Australia were now leading 22-21 and the celebrations were already beginning on the Australian bench.

But there was some more drama to come though. The match was not yet over.

The hooter sounded. It was now 0:00 on the clock. Referee James Doleman awarded Fiji a scrum on their own line. And the ball found Alasio Sovita Naduva, who dramatically sprinted the full 90 metres down the rugby pitch – to score the winning try under the posts.

It had been dramatic, and for the neutral, it was a display of sevens rugby at its finest.

Fiji was completely stoked about the win. Said Tuwai, “First of all, thank god for the win! Australia gave us a really hard game and we gave everything and we played as a team and it paid off for us at the end.”

And agreed Fiji coach Gareth Baber, “It was a good final, wasn’t it? I’m sure that it was entertaining. It was positive, there were a lot of tries scored and both teams really went at it and put some risk into it. Fortunately for us, there was a drop ball at the end, as Australia looked like they were going to win, but I always knew that we had something in us. We can score from anywhere. Our players are trained and they proved that they had the character and ability to finish off the game.”

He added, “I am pleased with the efforts of the players and what they have put into the match. We almost didn’t come out on top but then again, a sevens rugby game is 14 minutes and you have to play for exactly 14 minutes. We did exactly that and we got the win.”

Australia on the other hand, were gutted about losing the title at the last minute.

Said Australia’s Tim Anstee, “I am disappointed that we did not win that last game. We came so near yet so far. We did not start out the best; it was a bit of a see-saw battle but then we got our noses in front towards the end and I thought that we had it. But that is sevens for you – it can go either way. So I am gutted but proud of my team mates.”

He added “I thought the boys did pretty well. We have got a young squad and we are a bit inexperienced but the boys gave it a red hot crack this weekend and we got all the way to the final. I thought we stuck to our guns out there; we had the ball and we controlled it. We looked great and sharp and dangerous but that is the whole thing about sevens. You have to look after the ball and if you don’t have the ball, then you cannot score tries. We were not quite able to do it today but credit to Fiji though; they probably deserved it here.”

This had been Australia’s first Cup final since Sydney, on new coach Tim Walsh’s debut World Rugby Sevens Series tournament – after narrowly escaping a fast improving Spain 7-5 in the quarter finals and beating a resurgent England 15-7 in the Cup Semi Final.

Said Anstee, “It is not everyday that you make it to a Cup final so when you do make it, you want to make the most of it and go out and get that win. I cannot fault the boys out there; they were tremendous and gave it their all but at the end of the day, it is what it is.”

Fiji did not have an easy path to victory either, winning via last minute tries all afternoon, with Joshua Vakuranabili’s tally in the last seconds during the quarter finals against New Zealand and then followed by Eroni Sau’s score off an attacking scrum to put them home over an injury hit South African side.

Said Tuwai, “Our aim was to win the Singapore Sevens and I am satisfied with our win today. I am happy with the boys and how they performed as a team. You can see from the quarter finals all the way to the final, that they were all very high tempo games but we gave everything and we won.”

But despite clinching the win here in Singapore, Baber still feels that there are some areas that his team can improve on though.

He said, “There are always things that you can improve on. I was not happy with our kick off and getting the ball back on at times. I was also not happy with our line outsider. Teams are always trying to work each other up in sevens rugby and we need to use the strengths of ours in tournaments to hit back.”

And agreed Tuwai, “I think that we have learnt a lot here in Singapore. This is a young team coming into the Series and though our bonding as a team has improved, we sometimes move out of our team bonds. So we will go back home and try to work on everything before heading into London and Paris as an even better team.”

This win in Singapore, now puts Fiji on the top of the Series ladder on 145 points, four ahead of South Africa who ran England close in the Bronze medal match, losing 26-24.

Said Tuwai, “Our main aim was the Commonwealth Games but the pain of losing in the final (to New Zealand) does not go away. But we cannot dwell on that. So we switched our aim to winning the Rugby World Series and coming into Singapore, we were behind South Africa going into Singapore, and we really needed this win, so this has given us a really good boost going into London and Paris.”

And added Baber, “Going into London and Paris, we will not change anything; were will get on with the job as we always have and will not look too much into things that we can’t control in advance. We will instead make sure that we can look at the everyday elements that we can achieve to make sure that we can stay in play at this level.”

The coach continued, “It is nice to be in a position where we are playing consistently. We spoke last year about having more consistency and that is what we are currently proving to do right now.”

The Australians however, have vowed that they will be back, stronger than ever. Said Anstee, “We do not go into a tournament hoping to come second or seventh. We are here to win every tournament. We tried to do that this weekend but we fell one step short. But we will be right back there next time around. We are going for Number One so do watch out for us in London.”

In the other final matches of the evening, New Zealand came in 5th, winning the 5th Place Play-Off 36-17 against Kenya. The United States won the Challenge Final 26-12 against the Canadians – in a rematch of last year’s Cup final. And Japan clinched 13th place, beating Argentina 31-24 in the 13th Place Play-Off Final.

Overall, the 2018 HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens saw over 55,000 fans enjoy the magic of the Family Sevens at the National Stadium over the weekend and the players are appreciative to all the fans for taking the time and effort to come down to enjoy the rugby action.

Said Tuwai, “To all the supporters here, I would like to thank you for your support of rugby sevens, and I hope that every one of you can continue to support this beautiful game.”

The Village People performing.

With a perfect blend of pulsating on-pitch rugby action, thousands of people rocking out to disco legends Village People and a 20,000 square feet Fun Zone that featured first time appearances of The Transformers, Nerf, and My Little Pony, the two day fiesta reaffirmed its position of the biggest celebration of rugby in South East Asia.

Said Anstee, “Thanks to the crowd and to Singapore for putting on another great event. We love playing Sevens here – so thanks a lot for everything, Singapore.”