Fourth Hong Kong Sevens is like winning the World Cup, say Fiji as Kenya victory brings relief to disaster-affected fans back home

First youth, then experience came at Fiji on Sunday. But sometimes in life there are bigger forces at play.

Thoughts then immediately turned to the people back home still suffering after Cyclone Josie tore through the island nation last week – leaving four dead and a trail of destruction in its wake. With another huge storm looming, the Fijian camp had been focused on raising the spirits of sevens-mad countrymen through their efforts at the Hong Kong Stadium.

“We’ve talked about it all week – what we could do to lift the worries and stresses people are having in their lives – and I thought we did admirably this weekend,” said coach Gareth Baber.

“It’s fantastic to have done it for the people of Fiji and for those guys affected by the floods in Fiji.”

Sunday’s efforts surely helped do just that after Fiji were pushed hard by a South African squad full of that nation’s next generations of stars. It was 26-24 to Fiji when it ended but it could really have gone either way.

Then two yellow cards in the first half left Kenya with five on the field, and a Amenoni Nasilasila try and conversion at the death pushed Fiji to a 17-0 half-time lead that proved insurmountable.

“The semi-final was tough,” said Baber. “We knew South Africa would come at us. But we stuck to what our plan was and our plan was to come and win this one.”