Aston Lukoye
New Zealand have won the Hong Kong beating Fiji 24-17 in the final played on Sunday at Hong Kong Stadium.
All Blacks took an early lead against Fiji, with Cody Vai and Sione Molia scoring within the first six minutes. Leroy Carter extended their lead to 19-0 before Fiji’s Vuiviwa Naduvalu scored a try.
Nigardhi McGarvey-Black then scored for the All Blacks, ending the first half with a score of 24-7. In the second half, Fiji scored two more tries, but New Zealand held on to win their first Hong Kong title since 2014.
In the bronze final, France beat Great Britain 19-17, with Stephen Parez scoring the decisive try in a close match.
In the semi-finals, New Zealand beat France 12-7, while Fiji survived a dramatic extra-time match against Great Britain. Terio Tamani’s match-winning try had to be reviewed by the TMO after he nearly went out of bounds during his celebration. Earlier, the All Blacks had beaten Argentina 24-10, and France had come from behind twice to beat Spain 19-14 in extra time.
In the fifth-place match, Argentina beat South Africa 7-5 thanks to a moment of football-style brilliance from Matías Osadczuk, who headed the ball into touch to end the match.
Ireland claimed ninth place with a 19-17 win over Samoa, while Hong Kong won two matches in a row to claim 13th place, beating Kenya and Canada.
