Fiji Men survive scare in Dubai 7s opener to claim a 21-15 win over Spain

The Fiji Airways Fiji Men’s 7s side survived their first HSBC Dubai 7s pool match against Spain after securing a 21-15 win this afternoon.

Debutants Kavekini Tanivanuakula and George Bose were the toasts of the Fijian side as they both scored in the win.

Spain drew first blood in the 2nd minute with an unconverted try to Eduardo Lopez before Fiji replied with a converted try to Tanivanuakula in the 4th minute to lead 7-5.

Spain kept toiling hard and scored another unconverted try through Francisco Cosculluela at the stroke of halftime to lead 7-10 at the break.

Tanivanuakula claimed his second try of the match in the 8th minute of the game with Terio Tamani adding the extra 2 points through a conversion before Bose extended Fiji’s lead to 21-10 in the 11th minute with a converted try.

Spain scored a consolation try at the stroke of fulltime with the conversion unsuccessful.

Fiji will take on the USA at 9.52 tonight in their second pool match before playing NZ at 3.16am tomorrow in their final pool match.

Meanwhile, the Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s suffered a 30-12 loss to Ireland in their first pool match this afternoon.

They will take on Australia at 9.05 tonight in their second pool match before playing China in their final pool match at 1.13am tomorrow.

In other matches played so far, in the women’s category, Japan thrashed Canada 40-5, NZ thumped Brazil 33-5, the USA defeated Great Britain 26-15, Spain beat France 24-12 and Australia thrashed China 52-0.

In the Men’s category, NZ defeated the USA 28-12.

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