By Benjamin Wanguba
On Sunday 10th of April, Fiji defeated New Zealand 28-17 to emerge as winners of the Singapore 7s. By half time, Fiji had managed a 21-0 lead with Vuiviawa Naduvalo, Waisea Nacuqu and Joseva Talacolo converting tries that would give them the lead.
In the second half New Zealand would be able to reduce the difference but a second try for Vuiviawa Naduvalo would be enough to secure a win for Fiji in the finals. The win was Fiji’s first series win since winning in Sydney, Australia in February of 2020.
To get to the final, Fiji won their group matches against France and Japan after losing their first game to Ireland. They then beat series leaders South Africa in the quarter finals before winning in the Semis against Australia. South Africa have so far managed to win in Dubai, Seville and Malaga and will be looking to come back on top in Vancouver next weekend.
Meanwhile Kenya’s Shujaas finished in 11th at the just concluded Singapore 7s. They started by losing both their opening matches in the group stage. They lost 12-10 to USA and 26-5 to South Africa. They would then bounce back by winning their 3rd group match by convincingly beating Canada 24-7. Shujaa then went ahead to beat Japan 12-10 in the quarter final for the 9th place play-off. They would however loose to Spain 19-10 in that match. Spain managed to be 19-0 up by half time. The boys tried their best to salvage the situation in the second half but only managed to get 10 points with tries from Billy Odhiambo and Kelvin Wekesa.
Shujaa will however be hoping to have a better performance in Vancouver next weekend after only picking 5 points in Singapore.