William Ryder produced a virtuoso performance, sparking
Fiji's 24-17 semi-final win over New Zealand in the Adelaide Sevens
rugby last night.
Fiji remains New Zealand's bogey side, with yesterday's loss the fourth in succession to it in the world sevens series.
Fiji went on to beat Samoa 21-7 in the final.
With
the scores tied 17-all after a late converted New Zealand try, Ryder
jigged his way through the New Zealand defence and skirted around the
last man for the winning try.
He also engineered Fiji's
fightback after New Zealand led 10-5 at half time through tries to
Steven Yates and Afeleke Pelenise. Crucially, Fiji scored first after
the break, which came from a Ryder run, and the swift Fijian added a
wide conversion for a 17-10 lead.
New Zealand rallied, and hard
defence saw Yates collect a loose ball and dash to the line. The
conversion with seconds remaining levelled the scores, but after the
kick-off Ryder performed his magic.
