Fiji cruised to Hong Kong Sevens victory as they beat defending champions New Zealand 33-19 in the Cup Final. They beat overall series leaders South Africa in the Semi Final. Also, Russia have now qualified as a core team for the 2015/2016 season.
Savenaca Rawaca ended the tournament as joint leading try scorer, alongside the USA’s Zack Test, as his brace of tries in the final added to the six he scored over the course of the weekend.
It was former England coach Ben Ryan’s first taste of victory at the iconic Hong Kong tournament, which was celebrating it’s 40th anniversary.
“This victory is certainly up there,” said Fiji’s coach Ben Ryan “We are now pushing hard for top place, we’re moving away from that Olympic qualification and it’s great for the people back home as Hong Kong means so much to them. It’s perhaps a monkey off my back as well so I am delighted.”
Following victory, Fiji are now just two points behind leaders South Africa (110) in the overall series standings, with 108 points, and just one ahead of New Zealand (107), with Australia (84) and England (78) the others in the top five, as the race for Olympic qualification continues.
Russia qualify for 2015-16 World Series – Highlights
While the top teams played out main event in Hong Kong, 12 regional qualifiers battled it out for one ever-present core team place on next season’s 2015/16 series, with Russia emerging victorious after beating Zimbabwe in the final thanks to a last-minute winning try from Vladimir Ostrouskho.
“This means a lot, it allows our players to play more valuable games and gain experience and the win will be a motivation for the younger players too,” said captain Dmitriy Perov.
View highlights from Day 3 below, with the other two days play shown on the next page, including an upset victory by Portugal over New Zealand on day two!
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