'This is just amazing. This is the biggest win ever for us in sevens and our first over Fiji. We just played out of our skins and fully deserved the victory,' said Canada's barefoot coach Ric Suggitt seconds after the hooter went off. For a moment, belief was suspended at the Hong Kong Stadium, as the dazed Fijians wondered if they would fail to play in the Cup competition for the first time in the history of the Hong Kong Sevens.

They had to finish among the best two second-placed teams to complete the eight-team quarter-final lineup. With two more matches left, the suspense was straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens was frantically doing his maths on the sidelines worried that the Kiwis would meet Fiji first up today. Fiji's team management was seen running up to the IRB scorers in the stands to see what the outcome would be. Happily, for them, and for the thousands of Fijian fans in the stadium, the 10-time winners of the Hong Kong Sevens found themselves in the Cup.

'Tomorrow is a new day. It will be a new Fiji out there,' promised captain Saimoni Rokoni. 'We will learn from our mistakes and go back to the hotel tonight and look at the video. We didn't play to our potential and I promise that won't happen again here.' Fiji will come up against England. The defending champions, who stepped up the tempo after a slow start on Friday night, will not be too bothered about the vagaries of the draw. They know that to win the Hong Kong tournament, they will have to beat the big teams. Last year they defeated Australia, Fiji and New Zealand, respectively, on the way to the Cup title.

In the same half of the draw, the other quarter-final will pit South Africa and Australia. In the opposite side of the draw, New Zealand will meet Samoa while Argentina take on Canada, the surprise package in the cup competition.

The Canadians played superbly to win their Cup berth. They opened scoring against Fiji early in the game when the influential Stirling Richmond touched down. Mike Danskin added the extra points and Canada led 7-0. But the euphoria was short-lived as Fiji levelled through a converted try from Mesake Davu, one of four new faces on the Fijian squad.

Fijian captain Rokoni then gave his side a 12-7 lead just before halftime with a try on the corner. But Canada were not finished and struck back through Strubin. The try was converted by Danskin and Canada had a two-point lead. They hung on to it tenaciously 'We knew it was not over by a long shot. Fiji are so unpredictable and we knew they could score from anywhere. At the end, when the hooter went off and play was still going on, I was wondering if we were going to kick the flipping ball out of bounds,' said coach Suggitt.

Before the match, Suggitt had kicked off his shoes.

His feet squelched in the wet Stadium turf. 'I always go barefoot during a match because I feel lucky. When I play ice hockey, I'm barefoot in my ice skates,' said the happy Suggitt.

Fiji had not brought along their ice skates. They teetered precariously on thin ice before scraping through. Fiji are living on past glory. The days when Waisale Serevi reigned supreme in Hong Kong seem to be long over.

But Rokoni vowed that today would see a different Fiji.

'We will fix it tonight. We have beaten England this season and we can do it again. We will prepare ourselves to win,' added Rokoni.