Fiji outgun New Zealand to defend Olympic rugby sevens title

Saturday, 31 July 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Argentina claims bronze with a 17-12 victory over Britain

Jerry Tuwai

TOKYO: Fiji defended their Olympic rugby sevens title with an entertaining 27-12 victory over New Zealand at the Tokyo Stadium on Wednesday.

Argentina claimed the bronze with a 17-12 victory over Britain, sparking wild scenes of celebration, and plenty of tears, at the final whistle.

The elated Fijians burst into a cappella hymns that boomed around the stadium to celebrate just the second ever Olympic medal for the nation of 890,000 people scattered around more than 330 Pacific islands.

Fiji skipper Jerry Tuwai said there had been “a lot of expectation. Every Fijian wants only the win. It’s a good day for Fiji today”.

“They won’t be thinking about the pandemic now, they’ll be celebrating the gold medal!” Fiji’s Welsh coach Gareth Baber hailed the “resilience of the group dealing with whatever has been thrown our way” after spending five months away from their families as coronavirus restrictions took hold throughout Oceania.

“It’s been a really strange year, particularly the last six months,” Baber said. “We were locked down in Fiji, then we went to Australia where we were in quarantine.

“It takes a special kind of person to make that commitment,” the former scrum-half said, joking that there had been almost daily references to the win in the Rio Olympics, when Fiji were coached by Englishman Ben Ryan.