“Give us time, the results will come.”
Those are the words of Fiji Rugby Union Chairman, Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga after the Digicel Fiji 7s team lost to Samoa 14-12 in the semi final of the USA 7s this morning.
Tikoitoga said that the players and coaches will learn a lot from what happened in the last two tournaments where Fiji lost in the final in NZ and the semifinal today.
He believes rugby critics want the results but he said we should know that we are facing some of the best coaches and players in the series and it will take Alifereti Dere and Etuate Waqa time to deliver the results.
Colonel Tikoitoga has asked the rugby public to have faith in them.
The Digicel Fiji 7s team finished in 3rd place in the USA 7s after beating South Africa 21-15.
Both sides scored 3 tries each but the difference was in the conversion where Metuisela Talebula converted all of Fiji’s 3 tries from Lepani Botea and captain, Setefano Cakau.
Again like in past games, Fiji’s weakness was in defence where the first up tackle was not able to put the ball carrier on the ground.
Meanwhile, the Samoan 7s rugby team is the winner of the USA 7s after beating New Zealand 26-19 in the final.
It was a nail biting final with the score locked at 19 all at full-time before Alafoti Faosiliva scored the winning try knocking over Tim Mickelson and Tomasi Cama for Samoa to win their first ever tournament since 2010.
Samoa started the match strongly with Faosiliva scoring the first try for them to lead 5-nil before Charles Piutau equalised for NZ for the game to be locked at 5 all.
A New Zealand mistake before half-time resulted in a Paul Perez try for Samoa to stretch their lead to 12-7 at half-time.
Samoa started the game strongly in the second half with another try to extend their lead to 19-5 but NZ came back with two quick tries to force the game to 19 all at the stroke of full-time.
With the siren already sounded it was Samoa who kept the ball alive before Faosiliva crossed for his winning try to beat NZ 26-19 in the final.
After the USA 7s, New Zealand is leading the IRB series points table with 92 points.
Fiji is still in second place with 87 points followed by South Africa on 76 points, England on 74 points and Samoa in 5th place with 69 points.
The next leg of the IRB 7s series will be held in Hong Kong from the 23rd to the 25th of March.
Story by: Dreu Vukailagi
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