Fiji Men’s 7s makes impressive start at Madrid 7s after beating NZ 28-26

The Fiji Airways Men’s National 7s side made an impressive start to their HSBC Madrid 7s campaign after coming from behind to steal a 28-26 win over New Zealand in their first match of Pool B.

New Zealand took an early 12-0 lead in the first half after scoring two tries through Moses Leo and Tepaea Cook-Savage who also added one conversion.

Fiji replied in the 6th minute with a converted try through Waisea Nacuqu before NZ scored another converted try at the stroke of halftime through Sam Dickson to extend their lead to 19-7 heading into the break.

Fiji made a strong start in the second half scoring two converted tries through Terio Tamani and Ponipate Loganimasi to lead 21-19 before Joe Webber regained the lead for NZ in the 12th minute with a converted try.

Loganimasi scored his second try of the match at the sound of the fulltime siren to lock the scores at 26-all before Iowane Teba kicked the winning conversion to break the hearts of the New Zealanders.

Fiji will take on Ireland in their second match of Pool B at 11.06 tonight before playing South Africa at 1.49am tomorrow.

The Men’s Cup semi finals will kick off at 10.21pm tomorrow and the cup final will be at 6.26am Monday.

Meanwhile, the Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s side made a slow start to their Madrid 7s campaign after suffering a 36-7 loss to France last night.

They will play Australia at 10.22 tonight before playing Ireland at 1.05am tomorrow. The Women’s Cup semi finals will kick off at 9.33pm tomorrow and the cup final will be at 5.49am Monday.