Fiji overcomes USA scare in Toulouse 7s

Fiji came from 12-0 down to beat USA 19-17 and book its place in the Cup semifinals of Toulouse 7s in France this morning.

USA made a brilliant start to the match and scored two tries through Joe Schroeder and Lucas Lacamp to lead 12-0 at halftime.

Fijian Captain Tevita Daugunu had the chance to pull one back but he failed with the grounding of the ball.

Fiji lost Sevuloni Mocenacagi to a possible hamstring injury and his replacement Josua Vakurinabili led the fightback and scored early in the second half.

Replacement Elia Canakaivata leveled up the scores after making a brilliant run on the left flank and dotting down in the corner.

Kaminieli Rasaku scored the third try for Fiji after using his pace and power well to beat four defenders. He also converted.

USA applied pressure in the dying moments and Steve Tomasin managed to score but their conversion missed.

However as the try was scored, Tomasin was dangerously tackled by Vakurinabili and this saw the USA get a penalty at the centre spot.

Their decision to start from a scrum worked well as they found speedster Dmontae Noble who barged his way towards sealing a win, only to be tackled and buried to the sideline by Olympian Napolioni Bolaca, who saved the day for the Fijians. 

Fiji will meet Samoa in the second semifinal at 12.36am tomorrow while host France and Ireland clash in the first semifinal at 12.14am.

In the other quarterfinals, Ireland beat Argentina 14-0, Samoa won 26-24 over England and France beat Australia 21-19.

By Reginald Chandar