The omens going into the final weren’t great for Wales after a heavy defeat in Australia against the series front runners was followed up by a similar result in pool play here in the third round of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
The reigning RWC Sevens champions bounced back from their earlier disappointment of a 21-12 Cup quarter-final defeat to Samoa to brush aside France 24-20 in a pulsating Plate semi-final .
Having trailed 12-0 Owen Williams, Tom Habberfield and Richard Smith gave Wales a 19-17 lead before a Terry Bouhraoua penalty looked to have sealed a 20-19 win for France. But Habberfield scored with the last play of the match to clinch a stunning 24-19 win.
Williams, who is rapidly adapting to Sevens with aplomb, led the rout against the Gold Coast Sevens winners with a brace of tries with Alex Walker, Rhys Shellard, Habberfield, Harry Robinson, Rhys Patchel and Owen P Williams all enjoying themselves with five pointers while Walker banged over four conversions to send the Fijians packing.
Wales skipper Richie Pugh was a happy man after picking up the silverware.
“It’s been a tough three weeks, but it’s the same for every team but for our young boys to finish on a high like that is just great. To nil Fiji is something special and to score 48 points against them is something else.
“We’ve just grown and grown as a team. There have been a few disappointments along the way, like Argentina last week and Samoa this morning, but credit to the boys, they picked themselves up.
“We went into the game against Fiji knowing we could beat them – we showed that when we take our opportunities we can beat anybody. We can be on fire and beat anybody.”
