Champions once again - Argentina beats Olympic Champion Fiji in The Vancouver Sevens

Argentina won its first World Rugby Sevens Series title in 14 years after defeating current Olympic Champion Fiji 29-10 in the finals of the Vancouver Sevens tournament.

The last time Argentina won a sevens title was in 2008, when its current coach, Santiago Cora led the side to victory as a player.

“I did it as a player and my dream after being a player was to do it was a coach,” Cora said. “The dream has come true.”

“You have to dream because the dreams come true,” he said. “I can’t believe it. I searched for this for nine years as a coach and I can’t believe it.”

It is a significant achievement for the country that has showed recently it can compete with the best teams in the world. With the Vancouver title, coupled with their recent bronze medal finish at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Argentina is becoming a force to be reckoned with in world rugby.

Fiji scored the first try of the match through Kaminieli Rasaku, but Argentina responded with two tries from Marcus Moneta and Santiago Vera Feld.

Jerry Tuwai later tied the match for Fiji but Argentina sealed the match with two tries to Felipe Del Mestre.

“We worked very hard to arrive here. The players gave everything everyday in Argentina, here and at the tournaments. It’s not easy for us, we have a lot of trials but it’s enough. We won.”

“The Olympics first and now this. I’m so happy and so proud of these guys.”

Australia beat Samoa 21-19 in the bronze medal playoff.

Despite its loss to Samoa, South Africa still maintained its overall series lead with four tournament victories. It has a six-point advantage over Argentina.

The next leg of the World Series is in Toulouse, France from May 20-22.