Dubai: Defending champions Fiji and record six-time winners New Zealand both suffered shock exits in the semi-finals of the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens here on Saturday.
Fiji lost 29-24 in extra-time to Australia - having led 19-5 at half-time and New Zealand lost 28-0 to last year’s runners-up South Africa, setting up an enticing final between the Blitzbokkes and the Wallabies.
Jerry Tuwai scored two tries and Semi Kunatani added a third to hand Fiji an early lead, with Osea Kolinisau converting twice, before Cameron Clark gave Australia a glimmer of hope with a try just before the interval.
Lewis Holland and Nick Malouf then added two more tries after the break either side of Apisai Domolailai’s effort for Fiji. Only Holland’s attempt was converted by James Stannard before Malouf scored another try and Clark converted to pull the Wallabies level in normal time. Greg Jeloudev then got the extra-time winner to condemn the title holders to defeat.
Fiji had won the opening leg of the nine-stage series in the Gold Coast in Australia in October and had been favourites coming into this tournament. They had beaten Wales 31-17 in the quarter-final earlier on Saturday after having topped their group with wins over France 54-7, Brazil 36-5 and Argentina 33-21 on Friday.
“I wanted to defend the title and I don’t like losing,” said Fiji coach Ben Ryan. “We put ourselves in a great position in that semi-final and we are hugely disappointed.
“I think there was a lack of talk in defence, we were 19-0 up before half-time and one bad pass allowed them back in for a try, that gave them a lifeline.
“It was radio silence in defence, they didn’t talk and that’s the message for the boys, they work hard in defence and are good when active and talking, so this is a good lesson for us early in the season.”
New Zealand’s loss to South Africa was just as shocking, particularly after they had recorded over 100 points from Friday’s group stages without conceding, with wins over Japan 36-0, Scotland 43-0 and Samoa 43-0.
The Kiwis then got revenge over England 29-7 in Saturday’s quarter-final, in a reverse of their Gold Coast defeat to the Red Roses, but their semi-final capitulation was completely out of character.
Kwagga Smith got a first half hat-trick of tries, all of which were converted by Branco du Preez to give South Africa a 21-0 first half lead. Cecil Afrika then added another after the break converted by Cheslin Kolbe in what was all one way traffic for the Blitzbokke.
“We just got beaten up really, simple as that,” said New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens. “We didn’t get enough of the ball and when we did have it we weren’t assertive enough.
“We lacked direction in what we were setting out to achieve and that created a little bit of uncertainty and we were punished for that.
“We had just seen another huge surprise in the other semi-final with Fiji losing in extra-time to Australia and our minds were elsewhere but we had a job to do first and that’s the job in hand.”
