43rd Hong Kong Rugby Sevens 2018 Four in a row for Fiji

Fiji players celebrate with the trophy after winning the final - Reuters 

By Shamseer Jaleel

Fiji stamped their class at the 43rd Hong Kong Rugby Sevens 2018 when they outclassed the Kenyan outfit 24-12 in the Cup Final, in front of a packed crowd of 40,000 at the Hong Kong Stadium in Causeway Bay yesterday.

Fiji’s winning streak at the tournament has now run to four consecutive years. No other team has achieved this in the 43 years of the tournament and Hong Kong now appears to be a second home for the Pacific Islanders. With this win Fiji have closed the gap by three points in the World Rugby sevens series 2017/2018. South Africa are leading with 126 points. New Zealand are in third position with 107 points accumulated to date with three more tournaments left to be played in Singapore, London and Paris.

Fiji showed their supreme class by scoring four tries while the Kenyans replied with two of their own. In the first half Kenya was down to five men after two of their players were sin-binned for foul play. The Kenyan team was led by former Kandy SC centre Oscar Ouma who played for the upcountry club for three seasons.

Meanwhile, Japan showed their dominance when they qualified for the World Series 2018/2019 with a win over Germany. Sevens rugby is set to shift to the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games from 13-15 April and later in two weeks’ time to the Singapore Sevens before finishing in Paris.

China qualified for the 2018/2019 Women›s World Series a day before.

 World Series

Cup final: Fiji beat Kenya 24-12

Third place: South Africa beat New Zealand 29-7

Cup semifinals: Fiji beat South Africa 26-24, Kenya beat New Zealand 21-12

Other matches: France beat Samoa 38-0, Australia beat England 17-14, Russia beat Wales 15-7, Canada beat South Korea 19-0, South Africa beat Spain 38-5, New Zealand beat the US 35-7, Kenya beat Scotland 19-12 and Fiji beat Argentina 40-14

Shield final: Wales beat Samoa 33-5

Shield semifinal: Samoa beat England 33-10, Wales beat South Korea 49-5

Bowl final: France beat Canada 33-7

Bowl semifinals: France beat Australia 24-12, Canada beat Russia 17-12

Plate final: Argentina beat the US 14-12

Plate semifinals: Argentina beat Spain 14-12, the US beat Scotland 19-15

World Series qualifications

Final: Japan beat Germany 17-14

Semifinals: Germany beat Chile 19-12, Japan beat Ireland 12-7