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Three of the favoured sides find themselves in the Bowl competition at the inaugural Uprising Beach Resort International Sevens at the National Stadium in Suva.

The Digicel Fiji Barbarians, Aotearoa Maori and Ponsonby were knocked out by the Police, the Army and the Digicel Matai Select team - coached by Waisale Serevi and Gordon Tietjens - respectively.

The Barbarians, comprised of members of the national squad, went down 14-21 to local club Wardens and looked lethargic against Police in Pool D, losing 5-15, while Ponsonby couldn't accumulate enough points against Les Bleus to qualify on points difference in Pool B. Aotearoa Maori, with Matua Parkinson and Wayne Shelford at the helm, failed to fire losing two of their three Pool C matches.

The Police and Red Rock impressed the enthusiastic crowd the most on a sweltering day in Suva, though IRB Sevens champions Samoa (playing as the Samoan Barbarians) are also a threat.

"Tomorrow is another day and that's what counts," said coach Stephen Betham. "It's disappointing to lose but we have a chance tomorrow as we played well in patches. The boys relaxed a bit once we made the quarter-finals but we need to be more consistent tomorrow."

The forecast for Saturday is for warm conditions with isolated thunderstorms possible.

CUP

Red Rock v Navy

Wardens v Digicel Matai

Samurai Exile v Police

Army v Samoa Barbarians

BOWL

Nadroga v Les Bleus

Fiji Barbarians v Aotearoa Maori

Uprising Beach Resort v New Caledonia

Ponsonby v Pacific Coast Grizzlies

Local Hero Silences Samoa

Peni Gaunimeke scored two tries as local club Red Rock toppled the Samoan Barbarians 19-14 in the Pool A decider. The exciting playmaker opened the scoring and pulled out the winner late in the match, juggling a loose ball and racing away to send the crowd into raptures. Gaunimeke also ran in two tries for Red Rock in their 31-5 over the Grizzlies (who are from the USA).

William Rasileka, the former Fijian international, scored for the Americans as did countryman Filimoni Botitu in their loss to Samoa. Red Rock made it a clean sweep with a 26-12 win over Nadroga who beat the Grizzlies 19-14 for the wooden spoon.

Samoa had made hard work of their opening victory against Nadroga and only a late try to Levi Asi sealed a 22-12 victory. However, they stepped up against the Pacific Coast Grizzlies, featuring Viliame Satala, winning 40-5. Mikaele Pesamino bagged two tries in the first half.

Services Too Good For Foreign Legion

Points difference decided Pool B with Army and Navy both progressing ahead of Ponsonby from Auckland courtesy of big scores over a hapless Les Bleus from France.

Army had shaped up as the major threat to Samoa thanks to a 21-7 victory over Ponsonby. The Army were too physical for the New Zealanders, especially on defence, allowing their opposition no space to unleash their speedsters. But Army struggled against Navy in the battle of the forces trailing 0-10 and eventually losing 14-15.

Captain Rocky Khan had earlier saved the day for Ponsonby as they fought back from 7-17 to beat the Navy 24-17. Khan scored a brilliant late solo try to follow earlier scores to Randall Kamea, Solomon King and Adam Siddell. Ponsonby faced Les Bleus knowing they needed to win by 54 points to qualify but a disjointed match saw only 33 posted on the scoreboard.

"We spoke about being patient but were a little too anxious," said Ponsonby coach Milton Froggatt. "We have no-one to blame but ourselves and it came down to one poor performance against Army. Our guys looked sharp going forward but we had a few lapses which you can't afford. "We're disappointed to be in the bottom half of the competition but the quality of the teams is high and it will be just as tough there!"

Both the Army and the Navy also taught the young French side a lesson in Rugby Sevens winning 48-0 and 52-0 respectively.

Serevi Sees Matai Into Cup

Pool C was the closest of the four with Samurai Exile and Digicel Matai Select, who drew 12-12, going through to the Cup competition.

Samurai (from the Waimanu club) edged the hosts Uprising 10-5 to emerge unbeaten with two wins and a draw. Samurai captain David Batiratu, another former international looking to impress the national selectors, scored two tries in their first-up 26-7 win over the Aotearoa Maori, although the Maori improved remarkably to beat Uprising 12-7. However, the draw set up a tense finish to the Pool after Uprising had upset the Matai 12-7, and the Maori were no match for the Matai under Waisale Serevi losing 29-12.

"We were slow to start having not played as a team but we got better as the day went on and that was a good way to cap it off," said Gordon Tietjens after the win over the Maori. "Vunibaka and Serevi still have the 'head' for Sevens and the young guys are learning a lot and playing with real enthusiasm."

Lawmen Capture Wins Over Fiji

The Digicel Fiji Barbarians had to play second fiddle to the national Police and Wardens teams going down 15-5 and 21-14 respectively and losing William Ryder, who is on the comeback trail, with a shoulder injury.

The Barbarians bounced back from a shock loss to the Wardens to trounce New Caledonia 50-0. Nikola Matawalu and Joeli Lutumailagi each scored two tries for Fiji who have controversially sent their top side to Darwin. The Wardens, captained by Api Naiyabo, had fought back from 7-14 down to upset the Barbarians 21-14.

They might enforce rules in their day job but two blatant infringements saw the Wardens down to five men and the Barbarians duly capitalised. However the Wardens came back well and deserved their win.

The Wardens then dominated the Police scoring two tries in the first half to lead 12-0 at halftime but the Police drew level with two minutes to play. Livai Ikanikoda scored the try to break the deadlock and the prison officers held on and win 19-12 despite again being a man short.

They rounded off their day beating New Caledonia 54-0 The Police look like a real chance in the competition comfortably beating the Barbarians selection having earlier defeated New Caledonia 52-0.

Results

Pool A: Samoa Barbarians 22 Nadroga 12, Red Rock 31 Pacific Coast Grizzlies 5, Samoa Barbarians 40, Pacific Coast Grizzlies 5, Red Rock 26 Nadroga 12, Nadroga 19 Pacific Coast Grizzlies 14, Red Rock 19 Samoa Barbarians 14

Pool B: Army 48 Les Bleus 0, Ponsonby 24 Navy 17, Navy 52 Les Bleus 0, Army 21 Ponsonby 7, Navy 15 Army 14, Ponsonby 33 Les Bleus 0

Pool C Samurai Exile 26 Aotearoa Maori 7, Uprising 12 Digicel Matai 7, Aotearoa Maori 12 Uprising 7, Samurai Exile 12 Digicel Matai 12, Samurai Exile 10 Uprising 5, Digicel Matai 29 Aotearoa Maori 12

Pool D Wardens 21 Fiji Barbarians 14, Police 52 New Caledonia 0, Fiji Barbarians 50 New Caledonia 0, Wardens 19 Police 12, Wardens 54 New Caledonia 0, Police 15 Fiji Barbarians 0

Nick Jordan is in Suva thanks to Air Pacific and Tourism Fiji