Dubai 7s: Fiji finishes 4th, losing to NZ 17-12

There is a lot of soul searching required as our Fiji Airways Men’s National 7s side finished in 4th place in the Dubai 7s after losing to New Zealand 17-12 in the third-place playoff this morning.

Joseva Talacolo scored the first try of the match giving Fiji a 7-0 advantage, but New Zealand replied through a try to playmaker Akuila Rokolisoa to close the game at 7-all in the first half.

A few missed tackles at the start of the second half gave Cody Vai the chance to cross over the try line and give New Zealand a 12-7 lead.

Tepaea Cook Savage was handed a yellow card with 3 minutes of play left, and Fiji capitalised on the one-man advantage scoring an unconverted try through Manueli Maisamoa to level the score at 12-all.

New Zealand had the final say of the match as Fehi Fine-anga-nofo scored the winning try.

Meanwhile, the Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s side finished 5th in the Women’s category after defeating Ireland 24-19 in the 5th/6th place playoff.