Fijiana 7s falls 19-7 South Africa in second pool match

The Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s side has suffered a second defeat of the Los Angeles 7s after losing 7-19 to South Africa this morning.

Fiji scored the first points of the match after speedster Heleina Young broke the defence from her own 5-metre line and ran 95 metres to score a converted try for a 7-0 lead.

South Africa replied at the stroke of halftime with an unconverted try to Ayanda Malinga to close the gap as the game went into the break with Fiji holding a slight 7-5 lead.

South Africa came back firing in the second half and scored a converted try in the 8th minute to take a 12-7 lead.

Referee Cisco Lopez made a controversial call in the 12th minute after flashing a yellow card to Fiji’s Ana Maria Naimasi which proved too costly for Fijiana.

South Africa capitalised on the 1-woman advantage and scored the winning try at the stroke of full-time for the win.

Fijiana will play New Zealand at 1.24pm today in their final pool match. The women’s cup quarter finals will kick off at 6.14am tomorrow, the semi finals will begin at 9.24am tomorrow and the final will be at 1.43pm tomorrow.

Meanwhile, The Fiji Men’s 7s team are through to the quarter finals and will play France at 10.22am today in their final pool match.

The men’s cup quarter finals will kick off at 3.26pm today, the semi finals will be at 10.08am tomorrow and the final will be at 2.32pm tomorrow.

Match Updates:

0' Fijiana kicks off the first half. FIJ 0-0 SA

1' Fiji penalised for a high tackle. SA opts for a lineout. FIJ 0-0 SA

2' Fiji gets a penalty inside their own half. Fiji opts for a scrum. FIJ 0-0 SA

3' Fiji pressured by SA, but gets a scrum inside their own half. FIJ 0-0 SA

4' Fiji's Heleina Young scores a long range try after a break away from inside her own 5 metre line. Conversion successful. FIJ 7-0 SA

5' Referee goes to the TMO to determine if SA has scored a try or Fiji got to the ball first.  FIJ 7-0 SA

5' No try awarded. 22 metre drop out to Fiji.  FIJ 7-0 SA

6' Great defence from Fiji forcing SA out.  FIJ 7-0 SA

7' SA's Ayanda Malinga scores their first try of the game at the stroke of halftime. Conversion unsuccessful.  FIJ 7-5 SA

7' SA kicks off the second half.  FIJ 7-5 SA

8' Zindal Mpumpha scores SA's second try to give them the lead. Conversion successful. FIJ 7-12 SA

9' Knock on by SA, scrum to Fiji inside their 22 metre line. FIJ 7-12 SA

10' Fiji's Ana Maria Naimasi is yellow carded for foul play. SA opts for a scrum. FIJ 7-12 SA

11' Fiji penalised again inside their own half. SA opts for another scrum. FIJ 7-12 SA

12' SA knocks the ball on right on the tryline and costs them a try. Scrum to Fiji. FIJ 7-12 SA

13' Referee goes to the TMO again to determine whether SA has scored a try. No try awarded. Scrum to SA as Fiji carried the ball back. FIJ 7-12 SA

14' SA seals the win with a converted try at the stroke of fulltime. FIJ 7-19 SA