Fiji maestros Mana Magicians played some of the best rugby ever seen in Hong Kong to beat an Aliens side packed full of former All Blacks 25-17 yesterday and lift the Carlsberg International 10s title at Football Club.
A breathtakingly brilliant try late in the second half which saw the Fijians sweep from behind their own in-goal area to score at the other end finished off two-time winners Aliens, who had seemed to have the upper hand with their overwhelming physical force.
But with the game level at 17-17 and the seconds ticking away, Kini Boko amazingly evaded five tackles behind his own posts before passing to Marika Gusuna, who sprinted up the touchline and kicked ahead for Nemia Ratu to catch and send away Joape Seru to score the winning try. The capacity 3,000 crowd roared their approval of a try which matched the glorious score by Fiji in the 1990 Hong Kong Sevens.
'It was a fantastic try - you cannot defend against something like that,' admitted Aliens captain Steve Miln. 'We have no excuses - we fronted and gave the crowd a good final and a good day's rugby. Hopefully the Fijians will be back next year and we can have another go at them.' He added: 'The Carlsberg 10s is improving by the year. Four years ago it was relatively easy to reach the final but this year the route was tough. The Marauders gave us a nudge and the Cook Islands were tough opposition.' The Mana Magicians, who gave notice of their potential by beating a New Zealand A team in the Air Pacific final in New Zealand last month, confirmed that they would definitely be back to defend their title.
'It was great stuff and sure we'll be back next year,' said tour organiser and Mana Magicians reserve player Richard Breen. 'I thought we could do it if we got possession but they were denying us. But when we managed to spin it out wide we had the pace to go past them. Everyone is so happy with this win.' Earlier, the US Hogs made their first Carlsberg 10s tournament a winning one by taking the Plate title with a 19-15 victory over the Royal Logistics Corps.
Tokyo Gaijin rounded off an impressive tournament by lifting their second Bowl title in three years with a thumping 72-0 over Caboolture Snakes. The Gaijins also won the Bowl in 1994.