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Australia A crushes Fiji
July 14, 2006 - 11:48pm
Story by: Sportal
Digby Ioane and Cameron Shepherd both ran in three tries as Australia A demolished Fiji 47-18 in their clash at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.
The visitors were no match for an Australian side boasting eight Wallabies in their run-on squad, the visitors wreaking havoc right across the field.
It took Australia A just seven minutes to put points on the board when Shepherd crossed for his first try, the fullback finishing off a damaging run from Wycliff Palu.
Shepherd added further five-pointers in the 37th and 48th minutes in an outstanding display, while Ioane scored either side of the break before capping off a man-of-the-match performance with another later in the second half.
Adam Ashley-Cooper crossed shortly after coming off the bench in midway through the second term, before Fiji began to find form a little too late.
Mosese Luveitasau, Akapusi Qera and Jeremaiya Tuivela all crossed for tries in the final 10 minutes of the match, but it proved too little too late for the visitors.
Coach Laurie Fisher was impressed with his team's overall performance, but was annoyed with lapses late in the match that allowed Fiji their three tries.
"The good thing is that nobody let themselves down, I don't think there was a bad player out there tonight,"
"But we could do things a whole lot better.
"All the guys who were given an opportunity all played well and that is all you can do in games like this - play well as an individual and perform well as a team, and the rest of the things look after themselves."
Fisher singled out Ioane for praise, acknowledging his continuing improvement on the field.
"He's a fantastic athlete, he has got speed, great footwork and tremendous strength," Fisher said.
"He is improving his communication and his knowledge of the game, so it is only upwards and onwards for him."
From the ARU site...
http://www.rugby.com.au/news/austral.../section/21893
A great effort by all and especially well done to the Force fellas!
Let's hope Shep has done enough to keep pressing for Wallaby selection.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Good to se the FORCE boys in the action, all bodes for a much improved season next year. Mitch asked for three years to make us a formidable force and looks like things are on track.
Keep it up boys
yeh both digby and sheps played really well. Sheps will be pushing to be selected for the wallabies really soon and digby shouldn't be too far behind him
Last edited by catey; 15-07-06 at 10:03.
sounds like it would have been a good game to watch! pity no bloody broadcast!!
How long has digby signed for us for? Now that Jones has signed the Raiders fullback for the Reds he is talking about signing a big name non league outside back for Queensland.......Please let it not be Diggers!!
Digby signed on for two years vortextua.
My understanding of the Queensland sourced player contracts in order of signing was:
Nathan Sharpe 3
Richard Brown 2
Tai McIsaac 2
Junior Pelesasa 2
Rudi Vedelago 2
Luke Doherty 1
Scott Daruda 2
Digby Ioane 2
Tajhon Smallman-Mailata 1
Brett Stapleton 2
Vitori Buatava 1
Brock James 2
Mat Windle 2
Obviously there has been some changes since then.
With the regular appointment of Luke Doherty as Force Gold Captain you would think that he has had an extension given to his already.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
how did stanners play?
yeh he played alright but it was basically the ioane and shepherd show
noice one catey....a full match report???
I'll be there next Saturday in Melbourne and will be calling coach at half and full time with verbal report for him to post.
Watching Cam and Digby go over for six between them must have been a liitle concerning for Drew Mitchell, what with them being incumbent in the two positions he'll be aspiring to next year.