USA finish 3rd as Fiji claim Men’s title in Sydney

Fiji held on to beat South Africa in a tense men’s final at the Sydney Sevens on Sunday. The Blitzboks had earlier defeated the USA in the Semi Finals, with the Eagles closing out their tournament with a Bronze Final victory. Argentina finished in 8th spot with Canada in 10th.

The USA needed a win over Australia in their last pool match to stay in Cup contention and they got it with a stunning 43-7 win. Perry Baker grabbed a hat trick with Carlin Isles scoring two. Both flyers ended the tournament on 199 career Sevens Series tries.

It was all square a halftime in the Semi Final against South Africa, but the Blitzboks were an inch quicker in the second half as Stedman Gans scored the decisive try. Mike Friday’s men ran out to a 17-nil lead against England and finished one converted score ahead to claim 3rd place.

Los Pumas defeated France in their final pool match, but couldn’t summon the energy to stop Ireland in the 7th place playoff. Canada closed their pool stage with a defeat against England, and failed to score any points against Les Bleus in the 10th place decider.

The much-improved performance from the USA sees them jump up two spots into 6th place overall, with Argentina sliding from 5th to 8th. Canada drop one position to 10th overall.

Next up is the North American leg that will feature only men’s teams. Los Angeles kicks off on February 29 with Vancouver hosting the following weekend.

 

 

POOL RESULTS

POOL A
Kenya 14 – 28 Fiji
New Zealand 54 – 5 Wales
Kenya 21 – 26 Wales
New Zealand 5 – 26 Fiji
Fiji 55 – 0 Wales
New Zealand 19 – 5 Kenya

POOL B
Argentina 14 – 52 South Africa
France 24 – 17 Samoa
Argentina 28 – 21 Samoa
France 12 – 24 South Africa
South Africa 36 – 0 Samoa
France 5 – 17 Argentina

POOL C
USA 32 – 14 Scotland
Australia 33 – 7 Japan
USA 45 – 7 Japan
Australia 31 – 14 Scotland
Scotland 21 – 21 Japan
Australia 7 – 43 USA

POOL D
Canada 28 – 19 Ireland
England 47 – 0 Spain
Canada 12 – 28 Spain
England 19 – 12 Ireland
Ireland 26 – 10 Spain
England 26 – 14 Canada

 

PLAYOFF RESULTS

CUP SEMI FINALS
South Africa 19 – 12 USA
Fiji 17 – 14 England

15th PLACE FINAL
Kenya 12 – 19 Samoa

13th PLACE FINAL
Spain 14 – 7 Japan

11th PLACE FINAL
Wales 5 – 21 Scotland

9th PLACE FINAL
France 7 – 0 Canada

7th PLACE FINAL
Argentina 12 – 21 Ireland

5th PLACE FINAL
New Zealand 24 – 7 Australia

BRONZE FINAL
USA 17 – 10 England

CUP FINAL
South Africa 10 – 12 Fiji