Fijiana suffered a 21-17 loss to the USA in its opening match of the Vancouver 7s at the B.C. Place this morning.
The Saiasi Fuli coached side made a good start and an early try by Reapi Uluinasau saw them take a 5-0 lead.
USA replied with a try to Steph Rovetti two minutes later but the restart from the Americans fell into the hands of Raijieli Daveua who sprinted away to put the Fijians back into the lead.
A yellow card to Ilisapeci Delaiwau proved costly as USA took advantage of an extra player and sent Sammy Sullivan in the clear to score and put them up 14-12 at the break.
Delaiwau made amends straight after re-entering the pitch and put Fiji ahead again but a series of mistakes saw USA score another converted try through Ariana Ramsey and snatch the win.
On a positive note, debutant winger Heleina Young was on spot with her tackles and showed good ball handling skills and delivered a couple of fine offloads.
Fijiana faces Australia in its next match at 12.46pm.
