The Manu Samoa team showcased their renewed strength in London as they delivered an impressive performance against the All Blacks Sevens. This marked their best outcome since their victory in Cape Town last December.
In the bronze final match, Samoa triumphed over the All Blacks Sevens with a score of 24-19. Despite this loss, New Zealand remains in the leading position on the tournament leaderboard.
In the cup final, Argentina secured their first-ever London Sevens final win, beating Fiji with a convincing 35-14 victory on Sunday (Monday NZ time). The final took a dramatic turn in the second minute when Josese Batirerega got a red card for a tip tackle on Luciano Gonzalez when Fiji was in the lead 7-0. Argentina took advantage of the opportunity to quickly scored 2 tries.
Fiji wasted no time in the second half as Filipe Sauturaga collected his own grubber kick and scored his second try for Fiji just 19 seconds in. However, Argentina came back strong when Rodrigo Isgro kicked the ball ahead from Argentina’s 22, which led to another try. All five of Argentina’s tries were successfully converted by Santiago Vera Feld and Moneta.
This victory marked Argentina’s third tournament win and their most successful series, finishing as runners-up to New Zealand. Despite not winning a tournament for the first time since the 2010-11 season, Fiji secured third place in the series. France took the fourth spot, while Australia secured the fifth and final automatic qualifying spot for next year’s Paris Olympics, edging out Samoa by a single point.
In the semifinals, Argentina avenged their pool loss to Ireland by defeating them 28-14, and they overcame Samoa with a late try by Santiago Alvarez in a 10-7 victory.
In the semifinals, Fiji ended New Zealand’s 24-match winning streak with a late try scored by Viwa Naduvalo. Fiji also defeated Australia in the quarterfinals. Both Fiji and New Zealand scored three tries in the match, but Fiji’s superior goalkicking, landing two conversions to New Zealand’s one, proved to be the difference.
In the bronze medal playoff, the All Blacks Sevens initially led Samoa 14-7 at halftime with tries from Xavier Harris and Brady Rush in the first four minutes. However, Samoa made a comeback with two tries from Malakesi Masefau on either side of the interval. Che Clarke scored the only second-half try for the Kiwis, but Melani Matavao and Taunuu Niulevea’s touchdowns secured a memorable victory for Samoa.
At the end of the London tournament, Akuila Rokolisoa and Leroy Carter from the All Blacks Sevens were named in the World Sevens Series Dream Team, along with players from Argentina, Samoa, and Australia.
