The Fiji Airways Men’s National 7s side has settled for bronze in the HSBC Madrid 7s after defeating New Zealand 17-10 in the 3rd place playoff this morning.
NZ made a strong start to the match scoring their first unconverted try to Moses Leo in the corner before Fiji replied with an unconverted try to Waisea Nacuqu to lock the score at 5-all.
Fiji gained the lead in the 6th minute after Ponipate Loganimasi scored a converted try before Dylan Collier replied with an unconverted try at the stroke of halftime to close the gap.
Fiji led 12-10 at the break.
Iowane Teba scored another try for Fiji in the 8th minute with the conversion unsuccessful to extend Fiji’s lead to 17-10.
NZ had a chance to score a try and potentially send the game to golden point after the fulltime hooter sounded but Fiji’s Ponipate Loganimasi made a great try-saving tackle after chasing Regan Ware down the sideline and tapping the ball off his hand to gift Fiji the win.
Meanwhile, NZ has won bronze in the Women’s competition after beating Canada 26-14.
