Fiji Airways Men’s National 7s team has qualified for the first quarterfinal of the Hamilton 7s after defeating Australia 26-19.

Fiji started slow in the first half but great defence shown by Jerry Tuwai during the breakdown led to a try from Sevuloni Mocenacagi in the first minute.

Their second try came from Aminiasi Tuimaba who contested for the ball during a breakdown in the 3rd minute giving them a lead of 12-0.

Australia came back strong scoring a try in the 4th minute through Lachie Anderson from a penalty given away by Fiji.

Captain Kalione Nasoko scored the 3rd try through an intercept from Vilimoni Botitu.

Australia fought off Fiji’s defence to score two more tries just before half time brining the score to 19-14.

At the halftime break Coach Gareth Baber stressed to the team the importance of taking advantage of turnovers.

Fiji struggled to gain possession in the second half as Australia scored another try to bring the scores to 19-19.

Fiji continued to pressure the Australians in the second half before Kalione Nasoko picked up from a break down to give Mesulame Kunavula a chance to score the last try in the game bringing the scores to 26-19.

Fiji now tops pool A while Australia finish second and they have both secured a spot in the quarterfinals.

Fiji will now take on Canada in the first quarterfinal at 10.36am tomorrow morning.

Fiji earlier thrashed Wales 54-7 in their first pool match and struggled to defeat Argentina 33-24.

In other quarterfinals, Samoa will take on South Africa in the second quarterfinal, Australia will face New Zealand in the third quarterfinal while USA will take on Scotland in the last quarter final.

Barring any upsets, Fiji will either meet Samoa or South Africa in the Cup Semifinal.

The semifinals will kick off at 3.16pm and the final will start at 7.10pm tomorrow.

Looking at the results from the last set of Pool matches, Samoa defeated Tonga 28-12, South Africa defeated Scotland 36-7, USA defeated England 19-7 while New Zealand defeated Spain 24-0.