Fiji 7s Head Coach Ben Gollings says giving New Zealand a head start in the final blew away their chances of claiming gold in the Hong Kong 7s on Monday morning.
Fiji was forced to play catch-up rugby but came up short to settle for a 24-17 loss and a silver medal finish.
“You can’t give a team like New Zealand a 15-point head start in the final, you’re just making it a lot tougher for yourself,” Gollings said.
“We just didn’t react; we knew they were going to put pressure on us and we didn’t hit the first blow.
“We fought back, and we were close to going in and going again, still, it was a big lesson learnt.”
Meanwhile Fiji has been drawn with Samoa, Canada and Spain for this weekend’s Singapore 7s.