The Fiji Airways Fiji Men’s 7s side has secured their third win of the HSBC Perth 7s after coming from behind to beat New Zealand 21-14.
Speedster Vuiviawa Naduvalo was the toast of the side this time scoring the winning try at the stroke of fulltime.
New Zealand took an early 14-0 lead in the first half after scoring two converted tries to Leeroy Carter and Regan Ware before Ponipate Loganimasi scored a converted try right at halftime to close the gap to 14-7.
Nippy halfback Terio Veilawa showed his class again coming off the bench in the second half to score a converted try to level the score at 14-all before Naduvalo followed up a great series of offloads from the Fijians to finish off with a beautiful try at the sound of fulltime to break the hearts of the New Zealanders.
Rugby's wild card: The dummy that defies all expectations 😮💨#HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSPER | @fijirugby pic.twitter.com/9JchshznPK
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) January 27, 2024
Fiji now finishes on top of their pool with 9 points with France in second place with 6 points.
NZ will now await the results of other matches to determine their fate in the tournament.
The men’s cup quarter finals will start at 10.10 tonight, the cup semi finals will kick off at 5.10pm tomorrow and the cup final will start at 9.53pm tomorrow.
Stay with us for updates
Match Updates:
0' New Zealand kicks off the first half. FIJ 0-0 NZ
1' Yellow card to Fiji's Joseva Talacolo, NZ opts for a scrum inside Fiji's 5 metre line. FIJ 0-0 NZ.
2' Leeroy Carter scores the first try for NZ. Conversion successful. FIJ 0-7 NZ
4' Regan Ware scores NZ's second try with a successful conversion. FIJ 0-14 NZ.
7' Ponipate Loganimasi scores Fiji's first try at the stroke of halftime with the conversion successful. FIJ 7-14 NZ.
Halftime: FIJ 7-14 NZ
7' Fiji kicks off the second half. FIJ 7-14 NZ
11' Terio Veilawa scores a converted try to level the score. FIJ 14-14 NZ.
14' Vuiviawa Naduvalo scores the winning try at the stroke of fulltime with a successful conversion. FIJ 21-14 NZ
Fulltime: FIJI 21-14 NZ.
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