HONG KONG –
Nathan Lawson’s last-minute strive gave Australia a 20-17 win over Fiji within the last of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens on Sunday, ending the Fijians’ run of 5 straight event titles.
With a Fiji participant within the sin-bin, Australia received the ball again on the breakdown and Lawson raced down the left flank. He managed to get the ball down within the nook with two Fijians draped over him, with the strive surviving video overview.
“After having performed so effectively final yr, to come out right here and again it up straightaway and win Hong Kong for the primary time since 1988, unbelievable. I believe we’re chopping just a few years off our coach’s life leaving it so late,” stated Australia captain Nick Malouf.
Said Fiji coach Ben Gollings: “Ultimately 30 seconds of rugby was the distinction ultimately however credit score to the boys, (it) was a tricky yr and so they caught at it and like I stated the consistency and being in one other last is unbelievable.”
France received the bronze, edging Samoa 19-17.
The Canadian men completed 10th, dropping 33-5 to New Zealand within the ninth-place playoff. After going 1-2-0 in pool play, Canada downed Hong Kong 19-17 and Britain 17-12 earlier than operating into the All Blacks who failed to attain the Hong Kong quarterfinals for the primary time after ending third in Pool A with losses to Samoa and Australia.
The standard Hong Kong occasion, which had been on hiatus since 2019 due to the pandemic, was the primary of 11 rounds within the HSBC World Rugby Seven Series.
Two quarterfinals and one semifinal required further time.
Australia reached the ultimate with a 10-7 win over France thanks to a golden-point penalty kick from Maurice Longbottom, whose extra-time strive capped a 26-19 comeback win over Ireland within the quarterfinal.
Fiji beat Commonwealth Games champion South Africa 12-7 within the quarterfinal and Samoa 19-7 within the semifinal.
Olympic bronze medallist Argentina, which open the event with a 36-0 win over Canada, beat the U.S. 36-0 to finish fifth.
Uruguay completed thirteenth in its debut as a Series core staff, defeating Britain (19-17), Kenya (10-7) and Japan (33-10) to finish thirteenth.
Matt Oworu scored the lone Canadian strive within the loss to New Zealand, which led 21-0 on the half.
David Richard’s second strive of the sport helped Canada to a 19-17 comeback win over Hong Kong. And Elias Ergas’s last-minute strive carried the Canadians to a 17-12 victory over Britain.
The prime 4 men’s and girls’s groups this season will earn Olympic qualification for Paris in 2024.
The men’s area will likely be lowered to 12 from 16 on the finish of the season to equal the variety of girls’s groups and align with the Olympic competitors construction.
The Canadian men, rebuilding after a slew of retirements following the Tokyo Olympics, completed 14th final season.
The Series’ subsequent cease is Dubai the place the ladies’s Series will start, as a part of a mixed occasion with the men on Dec. 2-3, earlier than each men and girls transfer on to Cape Town for a Dec. September 11 occasion.
The Canada girls have been drawn in Pool A in Dubai together with defending Series champions Australia, the U.S. and China.
The Canadian men are in Pool D with Samoa, the U.S. and Japan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Nov. 6, 2022