New Zealand women and Fiji men celebrate their Cup victory at the 2025 HSBC SVNS Singapore at Singapore National Stadium on April 6, 2025 in Singapore. Photo: Zach Franzen / World Rugby
Fiji claimed the 2025 HSBC SVNS Singapore men's title on Sunday night, beating Kenya 21-12 in the final.
The title win means the Fijians finished second in the overall standing at the end of the six event World Sevens Series.
It also gave the side their second title in the 2024/2025 series, having won Dubai in late November.
The Fiji men's sevens team turned on the magic at the National Stadium, in front of their fans and followers.
A tough Kenyan side challenged the team in the final, having defeated Spain in their semi-final earlier in the afternoon.
Veteran and captain Sevuloni Mocenacagi said it was a big moment, winning the Singapore title.
"It's great," he said, thanking fans and supporters around the world for backing them.
Vuiviawa Naduvalo, a second half replacement, touched down twice for Fiji in the second half and later received the Player of the Final award for his efforts.
The side had to come from behind to clinch victory.
Kenya had taken a 7-0 lead after Nygel Pettersan pipped Filipe Sauturaga in the chase for the ball, just before halftime.
But Naduvalo got on the board twice in succession, first weaving past the Kenyan defensive live out wide, and then stepping his way through from midfield, straight for the line, in between the posts.
That gave the Fijians breathing space, leading at 14-7.
Another replacement, Rauto Vakadranu, then sealed the win with his try two minutes from time.
While Kenya scored towards the end, it was too little too late for the Africans, who had defeated Fiji at the 2016 final at the same venue.
Naduvalo told fans and the public later it was great to finish the two days with a win, especially after missing out in Hong Kong.
He said they had prepared well and thanked head coach Osea Kolinisau also for having the faith in him.
"Thanks to the team mates for giving one hundred percent effort and the energy they put on the field and we end up with a win," the flyer said.
"You train as you play, what you do at training it is 100 percent you will execute that on the field.
"I was once a schoolboy when I watched our coach playing in the days back in his playing time.
"He is one of the players I looked up to. Very hard working, humble and very helpful to what I have achieved today."
Fiji stopped Argentina 33-24 in the second semi-final, to earn their final appearance.
They held their own against the series leaders and responded with a scintillating performance that included Fijian flair at its best as they stringed together free flowing passing and also hit the Los Pumas players with bone-crunching tackles.
Meanwhile, New Zealand retained their women's title, defeating Australia 31-7 in the final.
In other results, Fijiana women claimed seventh spot with a big 43-14 win over Great Britain, while the New Zealand men's team lost 21-19 to Ireland in the seventh place play-off.
Argentina and New Zealand were also crowned the respective league winners of the 2025 World Sevens series.
The top eight teams in both the men and the women's competition now head to Los Angeles in May to compete in the World Sevens Championship.
Both Fijian teams have qualified for that.
The bottom four teams will go into a play-off against the top four teams from the World Sevens Challenger Series, which will have its final tournament in Poland this weekend.
