SINGAPORE NATIONAL STADIUM APRIL 16 - 17 Day of mixed emotions, says captain
The Vodafone Fijian 7s team had to dig deep to keep their chances of retaining the 2015/16 World Sevens Series title alive. Skipper Osea Kolinisau said during an interview that they had to sit and discuss about their chances after they went down to Samoa 28-14 in their first pool game in Singapore. “It was a day of mixed emotions, especially after we lost to Samoa in the opening match,” said Kolinisau. “We wanted today to be more than about one person and it to be a team effort so although it’s great to get my 50th tournament, we had to really focus on getting through to the Cup quarter finals.” The Ben Ryan-coached side bounced back to wallop Portugal 38-0 before they trounced England 26-12 in their final pool match.
Kolinisau also pointed out they were sad to lose Francebased forward Semi Kunatani after he pulled a hamstring in their first pool match. “We talked about Semi not playing but right now our focus is keep our lead in the series,” he added.
Day One France won all three of their matches against New Zealand, USA and Canada to book their place in the quarter finals on day one of the HSBC Singapore Sevens. Les Bleus opened up with a shock 24-0 win over New Zealand, their first over Gordon Tietjens’ side since the 2005 Paris Sevens Cup semi finals - a tournament they went on to win. South Africa also maintained a 100 percent record with wins against Scotland, Russia and Kenya. Kenya made their way through on points difference over Scotland having played out a 12-12 draw despite the 14-0 defeat to their African neighbours. Argentina were the third side to ensure they topped their pool despite finishing their day with a a 21-21 draw with Japan. Having beaten Australia 12-7 in their first match with tries from Javier Ortega Desio and Ramiro Finco and Wales 42-21 thanks to a hat-trick from Juan Pablo Estelles their draw was enough to set up a match with the runners-up from Pool A Samoa.
Fiji topped Pool A despite losing 28-14 to Samoa in their opening pool match for the second time in a row after doing the same in Las Vegas and losing Kunatani to injury in the same match. England, captained by James Rodwell in his record 69th consecutive tournament, missed out on the last eight on points difference with Samoa taking the runnersup position to reach the Cup, something they were unable to do in Las Vegas.