Fijian 7s secure a place at the Paris Olympics. Photo: Oceania Rugby
Samoa men's and Fijiana women's teams have secured their tickets to the Olympic Games Paris 2024, following their winning performances at the Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship 2023 in Brisbane on Sunday.
World Rugby said Brian Lima's Samoa will make their Olympic debut in France next year after they capped a supremely impressive weekend with a 24-0 defeat of Papua New Guinea in the men's Olympic final on Sunday.
Earlier at Ballymore Stadium, the Fijiana sevens made sure of their place in Paris with a 54-0 win in the women's Olympic final, also against Papua New Guinea.
But neither Samoa nor the Fijiana could turn their qualification success into a title triumph, as the All Blacks Sevens and Australia won the respective overall championship finals.
The Olympic dream continues for Papua New Guinea's men and women, as well as Tonga men and Samoa women, who will compete in the final Olympic qualification tournament in 2024 after having finished the Oceania Rugby 7s Championship as the second and third highest ranked, non-qualified nations in each tournament.
Samoa missed out on automatic Olympic qualification via the World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 by a solitary point and were in no mood to let another opportunity pass them by in Brisbane.
Having opened their Men's Pool B campaign with a 36-0 win against Tuvalu on Friday, Samoa surged into the men's Olympic final with a perfect four wins from four and without conceding a single point.
Solomon Islands were beaten 50-0 before they ran in 52 points against American Samoa and emerged 46-0 victors against Cook Islands.
Those results set up a men's Olympic final against Papua New Guinea, whose standout result on their way to the showpiece match was a hard-fought 24-21 defeat of Tonga on day one.
Samoa ensured the final was a much more routine affair as they ran out 24-0 winners at Ballymore Stadium to end their wait for Olympic qualification.
Lima's side went on to contest for the overall championship final against New Zealand, but it proved just a step too far as the All Blacks Sevens claimed the title with a nail-biting 24-19 win after extra-time.
Samoa 7s secure a place at the Paris Olympics. Photo: Oceania Rugby
Fijiana
Tokyo bronze medallists Fijiana had been pipped to automatic qualification by Ireland during the 2023 World Rugby Sevens Series but did not let that effect them in Brisbane.
Fiji conceded only five points in their three pool matches, beating Cook Islands 50-0, Tonga 38-5 and debutants American Samoa 68-0 en route to the women's Olympic semi-finals.
Samoa were then beaten 42-0 in the semi-finals to set up a qualification decider with Papua New Guinea at Ballymore Stadium.
Fijiana made sure of their return to the Olympics in Paris next year with an impressive 54-0 win in the showpiece match against PNG women's.
The victory also secured Fijiana's passage to the overall championship final against Australia, but they were beaten 26-0 by the 2016 Olympic champions.
Fiji lost 24-17 to New Zealand in the international pool final while New Zealand defeated Samoa 24-19 in the men's competition of the Oceania competition.
The Fijian men's team finished third overall with a 36-7 victory over PNG.
In the women's international competition, Australia won 14-10 over New Zealand.
- World Rugby