The Fiji Men’s 7s team will meet New Zealand in the Olympic 7s Medal quarterfinals this hour.
Fiji beat USA 24‑19 in their last pool match this morning to end America’s hope of staying in contention for the first 7s Olympic medal in Rio.
USA’s Danny Barrett scored the first try of the match but Fiji managed their defence well and went down hard in the breakdowns to allow captain Osea Kolinisau to score their first try.
Kolinisau was then sin‑binned for tackling a player in the air but it did not dampen the spirits of the remaining six players as Vatemo Ravouvou scored Fiji’s second try just before half time.
Fiji led 12‑7 at half time.
In the second half, USA came back strongly and scored their second try and took the lead 14‑12.
Lanky forward Viliame Mata and Semi “The Beast” Kunatani then scored a try each to win the match for Fiji.
Meanwhile, wing Samisoni Viriviri has been cleared to play.
Fiji will meet New Zealand at 8 this morning in the first medal quarterfinals.
In other medal quarters, Japan will face France at 8.30am, Great Britain against Argentina at 9.00am while Australia will face South Africa at 9.30am.
Looking at the pool results from this morning, France beat Spain 26‑5, Australia edged South Africa 12‑5, Japan thrashed Kenya 31‑7, Great Britain beat New Zealand 21‑19 while Argentina thrashed Brasil 31‑0.
The semifinals will be at 5.30am tomorrow while the final will be at 10am tomorrow.
