A late penalty to France saw the Fiji men’s 7s side lose their HSBC SVNS Cape Town 7s opener 17-14 at the DHL Stadium today.
France had all the possession in the opening stanza.
Great inter-lapping play and lazy defence from Fiji saw the men in blue score in the opening minute through Joseph Jefferson Lee with Stephen Perez Edo Martin converting for an early 7-0 lead.
Fiji attempted to get back in the game, but a bit of lost composure and miscommunication saw France capitalise with Lee scoring his second of the match with Martin converting on seven minutes.
Discipline again was an issue with Fiji giving away soft penalties to allow the Bleus momentum.
France lead at halftime 14-0.
Fiji attacked with earnest with the seldom possession they had, and after some applied pressure of their own had Kaminieli Rasaku crossover on 10 minutes with Terio Tamani converting.
Jeremaia Matana scored their second try soon after following some brilliant attacking play, with Tamani adding a crucial conversion to level the scores on 12 minutes, setting up an exciting finish.
An arm wrestle followed, with both teams looking for the clincher.
France won a penalty at the death, with Rayan Rebbadj converting to take the win.
Fiji faces Spain in their second game at 11.12pm.
