South African 7s coach Neil Powell has admitted that the Vodafone Fijian 7s team had beaten them fair and square.

As they prepare for the Singapore Sevens this weekend, Powell says, the Fijians had definitely raised their game.

“When you playing against Fiji in the final in Hong Kong they’re always going to up their performance by 10, 15 percent and, no excuses, we needed to absorb that pressure and not make mistakes under pressure,” the no-nonsense coach said.

“Credit to Fiji. I think they played really well and kept the pressure on us when we had ball in hand. There were just too many basic errors. Catching the ball, passing errors, you can never give Fiji so much ball possession as they will always punish you and they did just that.”

Meanwhile at the Singapore Sevens, the Osea Kolinisau-led side are in Pool A where they face Canada, Russia and Hong Kong. South Africa top Pool B where they take on England, France and Japan. Pool C has Australia, Argentina, Kenya and Samoa while Pool D has USA, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales.