Fiji Airways Fijian 7s rep Amenoni Nasilasila 261th try of the World Sevens Series saved the Fijians from an early Cup quarterfinal exit after beating New Zealand 24-19 yesterday.

It was a sweet revenge for the Fi­jians after finishing as silver med­allists to New Zealand in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where they lost 14-0, in Gold Coast, Australia.

Coach Gareth Baber team was happy with how the players fought back to win in the end.

“I am very proud of the win,”an elated Baber said.

“We made some reckless mistakes during the pool games and we knew that our games against New Zea­land would be a test for us. They put us in a lot of pressure but we responded well.

“I am proud of the way we con­ducted ourselves and the way we showed discipline on the field and obviously we managed to root it off.”

Baber’s half-time message

Baber told the players at halftime to beef up defence and look after the ball.

“Possession is the key, make sure to make those one on one tackles stick,” he said.

Fijians barely had a sniff of pos­session for five minutes in the first half. Kurt Baker scoring two tries to lead 12-10 at halftime.

Josua Vakurunabuli and Ameno­ni Nasilasila scored for Fiji

In the second half, Eroni Sau ran the length of the field to score a stunning individual try.

Joe Ravouvou scored a try for New Zealand for the Kiwis to lead 19-17 before Nasilasila scored.

Edited by Osea Bola

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