Champions Fiji nipped

Hong Kong Rugby Champions Fiji nipped by Samoa

The virtually unthinkable in Pacific Islands rugby hap pened on the hallowed ground of Happy Valley in Hong Kong as champions Fiji went down, 13- to arch-rivals, Western Samoa, in the annual ’’world cup” of rugby, the international seven-a-side tournament. In deed, the strikingly reorgan ised Samoans looked for a time like trouncing Australia, the eventual winners of this year’s two-day tournament, when, in the semi-finals, they led 8-0 in the first half. But the Australians, drawn from what is now one of the strongest rugby squads in the world, soon came back and won, 14- As usual it was a magnifi cent weekend of great seven a-side football, fast and excit ing, with every team straining to the utmost.

Fiji, champions last year, and the team which has won

more often in Hong Kong than any other side, collected a total of 92 points in their two qualifying matches. Veteran winger Senivalati Laulau scored early against Samoa in the quarter-final, but then Fiji lost control of the game and Samoa ran away.

John Schuster scored a converted try early in the second half to make the score 6-4. Anitelea Aiolupo in creased it to 9-4 with a penal ty,and then Dickie Tafua charged down the line, hand ed off a Fijian defender, danced over a wild tackle, and dived over the line in sparkling fashion to finish if off at 13-4.

It was quite a turn-around from 1984 when the Samoans lost, 6-20, to Fiji in the quarter finals in a game marked by sloppy, and sometimes dirty, play by the Apian players. This year they kept their eye on the

ball, kept possession, and waited for openings.

With their morale way up in the sky, they then went out against Australia and had Ro ger Gould and his men badly rattled with an 8-0 score at half-time. Gould read the riot act in the one-minute interval and it was a very different bunch of Wallabies who tack led the second seven minutes.

The Samoans barely saw the ball again, but were far from dishonored by the final 13-8 score against a side contain ing some of the best players in the world.

Of the other Pacific Island teams, Tonga took out the plate competition for runners up in the qualifying pools, by thumping South Korea, 30-4, disposing of Japan, 20-4, and finally pushing out a strong Bahrain side, 18-10.

Solomon Islands performed well against a very strong

Japanese side, but were just pipped, 14-18, in the plate quarter finals.

In the bowl championship for last placers in the qual ifying rounds, Papua New Guinea started strongly by beating Taipei, 14-6 in the quarter finals, and Sri Lanka, 24-4 in the semis. But they went down 14-12, to a very big Hong Kong side in the final.

New Zealand might have been finalists against either Australia. They annihilated the Welsh, 26-0, in the main quar ter-finals, but then met the tough and very skilful Public School Wanderers, from Scot land, in the semi-final and went down 14-10 in a very exciting game.

It was left to the Australians to finally deal with the Wanderers in the final. It wasn’t easy, but it ended with a Wallaby win, 24-10.

Fiji’s Sela Gutugutuwai (with ball) evades a Taiwanese player’s dive. Fiji won the first-round match 48-0. See report above. —AP radiophoto.