The Fiji Times

All about the 7s!

- BA RUGBY

AS part of the union’s developmen­t program, Ba Rugby took three teams to last weekend’s Coral Coast 7s at a packed Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka.

“We went for the experience and to test our players against the best in Fiji and beyond,” BRU secretary Pastor Gaby Kautoga said.

“We travelled down with Allied Buses on the Wednesday evening and camped for three nights in Malevu Village.

“Perhaps our teams didn’t finish as high up as they had hoped, but the whole weekend was a wonderful experience and the men’s and juniors teams pulled off some excellent victories.

“Had it not been for a few dropped balls and missed tackles, all the teams could have placed much higher up the final rankings.”

Tries from Damasino Levi and Varasiko Tabananuku saw the Ba men’s team outgun the USA Falcons on Day One 14-10, but they then fell 5-12 in a tense battle to last year’s runners-up Fire.

In the bowl quarter-finals, Ba’s Ananaiyasa Naicula scored under the posts on full-time against Debo Babaas to win the game 1710 – or so they thought. As the players and supporters celebrated, the referee decided the game would restart for another play. One yellow card later and Debo levelled to send the match into extra-time, which they proceeded to win.

After slipping past Pacific Nomads 17-5, Ba faced the Gordon Tietjens-coached All Stars in the shield final, and what a spectacula­r end-to-end game it was. Trailing 14-24 with minutes remaining, Ba’s Epineri Goneva scored two late tries to take the tie 26-24. Silverware at last.

Ba Juniors excel

Ba Juniors performed the best out of the province’s three teams, reaching the bowl final after throwing away a 12-0 lead against Japan U18s in pool play.

They needed extra time to defeat their cousins Navala 15-10 in the bowl quarters, then edged the Coral Coasters 12-5 in the semis.

When the final hooter sounded in the bowl final against Tuburua Highlander­s, tries from Viliame Gaunavinak­a, Jerry Tuwai and Kaliova Vananalagi had the scoreboard showing Ba leading 22-19. With ball in hand, Ba kicked it out and celebrated in an even more fervent manner than their senior counterpar­ts had done earlier. But the scoreboard was wrong. The score was actually 19-19, so the game went to extra time, and Tuburua triumphed.

For the Ba Women, the tournament was a big learning curve on and off the field. They fell 5-26 to an experience­d Seahawks side then went down 0-40 to the eventual champions Matakesi from New Zealand.

The women fancied their chances against Western Drifters in the bowl play-offs but were given three yellow cards in quick succession, making it a pretty daft four against seven on the field. Even so, they came back well, and scored two good tries in the second half from Mary Jane Navuru and Acelini Tuwai but missed the vital conversion under the posts to go down 12-14.

“I’d like to thank everyone who helped Ba Rugby with this trip,” Kautoga said.

“The people of Malevu Village looked after us very well, and the tournament organisati­on was simply immaculate.

“I am sure all of our team management and players will remember their experience here at the McDonald’s Coral Coast 7s.”

BRU’s results:

Ba Men

Pool MB

Ba 0-31 Dominion Brothers Ba 14-10 USA Falcons

Ba 5-12 Fire

Bowl quarter-finals

Ba 17-22 Debo Babaas Shield semi-finals

Ba 17-5 Pacific Nomads Shield final

Ba 26-24 Ambassador All Stars Final position: 13th

Ba Women

Pool WA

Ba 5-36 Seahawks

Ba 0-41 Matakesi Bowl play-offs

Ba 5-26 Manly Mermaids Ba 12-14 Western Drifters Final placing: 11th

Ba Juniors

Pool YC

Ba 27-5 Barbarians

Ba 7-17 Dominion Brothers Ba 12-26 Japan SDS U18s Bowl quarter-finals

Ba 15-10 Navala (aet)

Bowl semi-finals

Ba 12-5 Coral Coasters Bowl final

Ba 19-24 SDS Tubarua Highlander­s (aet)

Final placing: 10th

... the whole weekend was a wonderful experience and the men’s and juniors teams pulled off some excellent victories – Gaby Kautoga

 ?? Picture: BA RUGBY ?? The Ba Originals take the shield during the Coral Coast 7s at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka last weekend.
Picture: BA RUGBY The Ba Originals take the shield during the Coral Coast 7s at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka last weekend.
 ?? Picture: BA RUGBY ?? Asivorosi Raileqe of Ba Juniors tussles against the Coral Coasters.
Picture: BA RUGBY Asivorosi Raileqe of Ba Juniors tussles against the Coral Coasters.
 ?? Picture: BA RUGBY ?? Mary Jane Navuru definitely enjoyed her try against Western Drifters.
Picture: BA RUGBY Mary Jane Navuru definitely enjoyed her try against Western Drifters.
 ?? Picture: BA RUGBY ?? Sir Gordon Tietjens poses with his victor, Gaby Kautoga, after the shield final.
Picture: BA RUGBY Sir Gordon Tietjens poses with his victor, Gaby Kautoga, after the shield final.

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