With less than three minutes on the clock, the Flying Fijians’ title defence of the HSBC SVNS Singapore looked to be hanging by a thread as they trailed Olympic champions France 12-0.
But a Viwa Naduvalo try breathed life into his side on Sunday (Feb 1) night as they mounted an improbable comeback to win 21-12 at the National Stadium for a second year in a row.
“Comeback plays are always tough because when the opponent is many points ahead, you have to work really hard, and I want to thank my teammates for sticking to our game plan and playing according to all the patterns that we’ve learnt from training and giving it to the tough French team today,” he added.
A second try, just 40 seconds later, by Kavekini Tanivanuakula was enough to take the lead at 14-12 as Pilipo Bukayaro bundled over in the dying seconds to add the icing on the cake.
It was deja vu for Naduvalo, the player of the final both this year and in 2025. His side had also stared at defeat then, falling behind early to Kenya last year and now to a formidable French outfit.
Yet the Pacific Islanders rallied on both occasions to prevail by an identical scoreline.
“The boys played together as a unit, giving their 100 per cent. Standing here, I feel grateful and honoured to play for my country, and I dedicate this win to them,” the 2022 Rugby Sevens World Cup winner said, having shed tears during the pre-match national anthem.
Jordan Sepho and Paulin Riva crossed the line for France in the first half to establish a comfortable lead that they looked set to see out, only to be undone by the Fijians’ late resurgence.
One of three joint leaders in the HSBC SVNS men’s series before Sunday’s encounter, the Fijians have been flawless in Singapore, winning all three of their matches on the first day and going all the way to lift the trophy but with three more stops (Perth, Vancouver, New York) before the World Championships, Naduvalo urged his side to remain “consistent and disciplined”.
“We have to learn from the errors that we made in previous games, and for the rest of the tournaments, we have to be consistent.”
In the women’s final, the trans-Tasman rivalry saw the Black Ferns come out on top once more as they went three in a row in Singapore.
After a celebratory haka, captain Risi Pouri-Lane said, “It was awesome to win against Australia, this means a lot more since they are our biggest rivals. We always have a good game against each other, and we know the stakes, we know their strengths, and they know our strengths.”
Two tries from Jazmin Felix-Hotham and one each from Jorja Miller, Mahina Paul and Katelyn Vahaakolo propelled New Zealand to a 36-7 rout of their rivals, with Australia’s Bienne Terita grabbing a late consolation try.
However, Pouri-Lane insisted the lopsided win would not breed complacency, with her focus already on the Feb 7-8 Perth stop, where Australia will be buoyed by home support.
“A game of sevens is all about moments and who can keep stacking the most moments. We were fortunate enough to have that on our side today, but we’ve got Perth in seven days. We’ve got to go again, we’ve got to get up, we’ve got to take the learnings,” the Olympic two-time gold medallist said.
“It wasn’t a perfect weekend. The score lines might have shown that, but we know when we look at ourselves, there are still a few cracks that we can get better at.”
Meanwhile, in the Southeast Asian 7s, defending champions Singapore settled for third place in the women’s competition on Saturday, as Thailand wrested back the title with a dominant 41-0 victory over Malaysia in the final. The script was flipped in the men’s tournament, where Malaysia edged the recently crowned Southeast Asian Games champions Thailand 10-5 to clinch the title.
