Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s team will take on Australia in the Cup semi-final while the New Zealand development team play Papua New Guinea in the other semi-final today.

The Ro Alifereti Doviverata-coached side finished second in their pool after losing to New Zealand in their final game 27-0 at the ANZ Stadium, Suva yesterday.

The Fijians won their first two matches beating Cook Islands 26-7 and New Caledonia 46-5.

Australia topped their pool beating Nauru 58-0, Samoa 45-0 and Papua New Guinea 31-0.

Ro Doviverata believes more needs to be done before their match against Australia at 1.27pm today.

“We will need to focus more on our ball handling, support and depth in attack,” he said.

“We will need to communicate better and the girls will also need to focus and work more on their defence.”

HERE FOR A PURPOSE

Australian women’s 7s coach James Stannard said they are here for a purpose.

“We have a young group of girls and they have proved on day one they have the energy and competed well,” Stannard

“The message is everything they do should be done for a purpose.”

Meanwhile, defending champions New Zealand women development side captain Janna Vaughan is optimistic of a good outing against PNG.

“We will also need to focus on our defence,”Vaughan said.

DAY 1 RESULTS:

Women- Fiji 26- 7 Cook Islands, NZ 45-0 New Caledonia, PNG 19-17 Samoa, Australia 58-0 Nauru, Fiji 46-5 New Caledonia, NZ 31-0 Cook Islands,  PNG 36-0 Nauru, Australia 45-0 Samoa, Cook Islands 31-7 New Caledonia, New Zealand 27-0 Fiji, Samoa 55-0 Nauru and Australia 31-0 PNG.

Men- Tonga 33-0 Niue,Samoa 43-0 Tuvalu, Cook Islands 24-5 Vanuatu, New Caledonia 41-14 Nauru, PNG 37-0 Solomon Is, Tonga 45-7 Tuvalu, Samoa 64-0 Niue, Australia 50-0 Vanuatu,NZ 62-0 Nauru, Fiji 47-0 Solomon Is,Tuvalu 22-19 Niue, Samoa 21-0 Tonga, Australia 27-0 Cook Islands, NZ 47-0 New Caledonia, Fiji 35-0 PNG.

WHAT’S ON TODAY:

Women- Cup semi-finals: 1.06pm NZ v PNG, 1.27 pm Fiji v Australia.; Other playoffs- 1.48pm Cook Islands v Nauru; 2.09pm New Caledonia v Samoa.

Men- Cup quarterfinals: 11am Australia v Tonga; 11.20am NZ v PNG; 11.42am  Samoa v Cook Islands; 12.03pm Fiji v New Caledonia.

– Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

Feedback:  nikolau.ravai@fijisun.com.fj