15 Mar 2016

Sport: Manu Samoa 7s look to kick on

2:02 pm on 15 March 2016

The Samoa sevens team are setting their sights even higher after a strong showing in Vancouver.

The Manu recorded their best finish of the season, beating the United States 31-19 to take out the Plate title.

It is just the second time in six tournaments Samoa qualified for the Cup quarter finals, amid a horror run of injury and illness.

Samoa celebrate winning the Plate title in Vancouver.

Samoa celebrate winning the Plate title in Vancouver. Photo: World Rugby / Martin Seras Lima

The result lifts Samoa to ninth in the overall standings and vice captain Tomasi Alosio said they want to keep improving.

"That's the ultimate goal - winning those close games and getting to the Cup [knockout rounds] and we've battled right through our pool play and hopefully we can go that one step further and make the Cup semis and the Cup final [in future events]."

Fiji finished fourth in Canada, losing their final two matches against South Africa and Australia, but remain atop the overall standings - one point clear of the Blitz Boks, with Vancouver champions New Zealand a further point behind.

The World Series resumes next month in Hong Kong.