4 Jun 2018

Sport: Fiji 7s win in London to close in on World Series title

6:56 am on 4 June 2018

Fiji have made it four tournament wins in a row after beating South Africa 21-17 in the final of the London Sevens.

The World Series leaders extended their advantage over the Blitzboks in the overall standings to seven points with one round to play, meaning a semi final appearance in Paris

this coming weekend should be enough to clinch the title.

Fiji, who thrashed Canada 40-7 in the quarter finals and surprise package Ireland 38-12 in the semis, have now won five of the past six World Series tournaments dating back to Hamilton in February.

Fiji's Paula Dranisinukula drives through the tackle from South Africa's Seabelo Senatla during the London 7s final.

Fiji's Paula Dranisinukula drives through the tackle from South Africa's Seabelo Senatla during the London 7s final. Photo: Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby

Captain Jerry Tuwai was delighted with the victory.

"I'm really happy with the boys today. It is always a pleasure to play in London and we are really blessed with all the Fijian supporters here," he said.

"The victory means a lot to us, as a team and as a nation. Our goal was to come here and lift the London cup and we did.

"Our next goal is to win the world series so we will regroup and be ready to go again next week. We are really excited about Paris."

Fiji coach Gareth Baber was pleased with how his players responded after conceding the first try.

"The way that we sort of went behind, fought our way back (and) played the rugby that we know gets us successes and we play with risk in Fiji," he said.

"South Africa know that we put pressure on our skills and we found a way through. I thought some of our set-piece stuff was good towards the end there where we were just solid and our needs to take the ball and controlled it well to score our tries."

Semi Radradra was named player of the final and included in the London 7s tournament team.

Semi Radradra was named player of the final and included in the London 7s tournament team. Photo: Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby

Semi Radradra was named player of the final in his first appearance for the Fiji sevens team since 2011.

The former rugby league star was also named in the tournament "Dream Team" alongside Toulon teammate Josua Tuisova and Paula Dranisinukula.

Meanwhile Samoa finished a disappointing 13th place in London.

The Manu finished bottom of their group and were pipped by Argentina 19-14 in the Challenge quarter finals before bouncing back to defeat Spain 26-10 and Scotland 34-10.