Vodafone Fijian 7s head coach Gareth Baber believes they will need to take the hit and learn as they face New Zealand in the Wellington 7s Cup quarterfinals today.

Fiji finished second in Pool B after losing to South Africa 12-31 in their final pool match at the Westpac Stadium.

Baber reminded the players to learn from their mistakes and keep moving forward.

“The issues here are we still playing and progress as a group in the tournament.

“We do take hits, there will be hits along the way and we learn from there.

“We are here to keep progressing as we go through the tournament. You can’t always have it your own way. It was good to see some of the things we were working on go well in our first two pool matches,” Baber said.

Fiji were down to six men in the first half against South Africa after Vatemo Ravouvou was yellow carded for a high tackle on Werner Kok. South Africa started at blinding pace after Seabelo Senatla broke the deadlock and Kok added South Africa second try before Justin Geduld ran in the third. But Tuwai scored the opener for Fiji as South Africa led 17-7 at the breather.

Joeli Lutumailagi thundered to the try line and put Fiji within striking distance but the Fijians fell asleep at the other end and Senatla needed no invitation to take full advantage with a try, before Siviwe Soyizwapi scored to seal Fiji’s fate.

Tough Opener  

The Fijians regrouped in the second half against Australia to win 26-12 in their pool opener.

The Aussies dominated the first half to lead 12-5 at the breather with Fiji scoring their lone try to Lutumailagi.  Baber reminded the players at halftime to lift their defence.

“You need to step up in your tackles and win possessions,” Baber said.

The Osea Kolinisau captained- side responded as Lutumailagi scored three minutes into the second half  and Kolinisau converted to tie the scores at 12-12.

Kolinisau scored a minute later as Fiji went ahead 19-12 before Alivereti Veitokani scored the final try.

Big Win

The Vodafone Fijian 7s side were on fire walloping Japan 56-0 to book their spot in the Cup quarterfinals.

The Fijians started strongly in the first half with Tuwai playing well.

Kolinisau scored the opening try before Kalione Nasoko crossed over for his first try.

Sevuloni Mocenacagi scored Fiji’s third try before Tuwai ran inanother before halftime. Ravouvou kicked the conversions. Fiji led 28-0 at halftime.

Baber was impressed with the performance.

“I thought we were good against Japan. It’s nice to see some of the things we worked on coming through.

The Fijians other try-scorers were  Ravouvou, Amenoni Nasilasila, Samisoni Viriviri and Lutumailagi.