Canada loses all three matches but gives powerful Fiji a scare at Dubai Sevens

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Olympic champion Fiji needed a try from Waisea Nacuqu with 10 seconds remaining to stave off the hard-charging Canadians 26-19 Friday at the Dubai Sevens, the first stop of the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

Fiji, the defending Series champion, built a 19-0 lead before Phil Berna found a hole in the Fiji defence and sprinted half the length of the field. Nathan Hirayama converted the try and added another converted try of his own in the second half, finishing off an attack by Justin Douglas and Pat Kay.

Adam Zaruba scored with three minutes remaining to tied the score at 19-19 before Nacuqu’s second try of the game gave Fiji its 42nd win in 44 meetings with Canada.

The Canadian men then lost 21-14 to Argentina and 31-5 to Wales. 

“Day 1 was a mixed bag,” said new Canadian coach Damian McGrath. “I saw enough promise to suggest that we can certainly improve. We gave both Fiji and Argentina soft points but came back strongly and could and should have won those games … we also suffered badly from several contentious refereeing decisions which always seems to be the way when you are struggling.

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“Excuses are easy to make but I really feel that because we have only been back in training four or five weeks you won’t see the best of us until the New Year.”

Canada faces Kenya in the Challenge Trophy quarter-finals Saturday.

Adam Zaruba and Liam Underwood scored tries in the loss to Argentina. Zaruba opened the scoring against Wales, which responded with 31 straight points.

Fiji made it hard on itself all day long Friday. It rallied from 12-7 down to beat Wales 24-12 and trailed 12-0 and 19-17 before beating Argentina 22-19 on another late try, by Joeli Lutumailagi.

South Africa, England and Australia also finished unbeaten on Day 1.

The quarter-final matchups Saturday are Fiji versus France, England versus Scotland, Australia versus Wales and South Africa versus five-time Dubai champion New Zealand.

New Zealand’s D.J. Forbes set an appearance record in his 80th tournament, one more than Samoa’s Uale Mai.

“It’s pretty special,” Forbes said. “It’s a cliche, but it’s a massive sacrifice by my family and friends for 11 years.”

The Canadian Press