Fijiana put up an impressive performance to grab a point via a narrow 5-12 loss to the French in their opening match of the Women Olympic 7s at Tokyo Stadium today.
Early domination in the first half, ably supported by their maintaining possession and compounded by facing up to a depleted French side after one of their players was yellow carded, ensured Viniana Rivai powered through to score the opening try of the game to put Fiji in the lead.
The conversion was not successful and Fiji led 5-0.
Within seconds from half-time, the French responded with a converted try to claim the lead 7-5 into the breather.
Both sides upped their games in the second, and Fiji squandered at least two scoring opportunities aided by some questionable moves by the French that appeared to go unnoticed by the presiding match official. The French scored the only points of the second half via a try.
The Fijiana will take on Canada at 7.30 pm (Fiji Time) in their second pool game tonight. Prior to that match-up, from 6 pm Mai TV will be airing a replay of Fiji’s Gold Medal victory from the quarterfinal stage.
Photo: Fiji Rugby
