Sevens

Fiji 7s go down to Argentina

May 21, 2023 1:22 am

Josese Batirerega. [Source: World Rugby]

The Fiji Airways men’s 7s side went down in its second pool match in London.

The Ben Gollings-coached side just couldn’t contain a fast Argentina side, losing 40-12.

Fiji started well when Waisea Nacuqu ran through after spotting space and earned a penalty in the resulting play.

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Speedster Marcos Moneta was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on giving Fiji the advantage and Paula Nayacakalou dotted down the first try of the match for a 5-0 lead.

Argentina with only six men hit right back with style with a try converted try to German Schulz.

With less than two minutes from halftime, Nacuqu was sent to the sin-bin for illegal play.

With the number advantage, they finished their scrum setpiece with Rodrigo Isgro scoring their second try.

Argentina led 14-5 at the break.

There was a momentum shift in the second spell as both teams up the tempo with solid defense, forcing turnovers in a few passages of play.

Argentina eventually earned the penalty and after a number of offloads, they spotted the overlap and Moneta scored his 45th try of the season.

They went back-to-back this time from the restart and Luciano Gonzalez scored their fourth try.

They were too hot for Fiji to handle scoring two more tries from the restart through Mateo Graziano and Tomas Elizalde.

Fiji finally answered back when Argentina made a mess for the restart and Josese Batirerega finished off the match with a try.

They face Japan in their third pool match at 4.07am today.