Fiji scrapes in...

[frontrow]

Fiji home in a nail-biter (from RWC site)

TOULOUSE, 12 September - Fiji have opened their IRB Rugby World Cup campaign with an entertaining 35-31 win over Japan in their Pool B match at Stade Municipal in Toulouse.


Fiji scored four tries to three to secure a crucial bonus point, the match going down to the wire as Japan threw everything at Fiji in the final minutes.

After an entertaining first half the lead changed hands several times in the second half providing the vocal Toulouse crowd with a real nail-biter.

Trailing 10-9 at half time Japan centre Shotaro Onishi gave his side an early two-point lead in the 43rd minute with his fourth penalty conversion of the match.

Fjii's Akapusi Qera then picked up his second try in the 49th minute to make the score 17-12.

Japan hit back with a converted try to second row Luke Thompson before a Nicky Little conversion in 55th minute regained the lead for Fiji 20-19. One minute later centre Seru Rabeni scored to extend the lead to 25-19.

A converted try in the 71st minute by second row Kele Leawere gave Fiji some much needed breathing space.

A late consolation to Japan's Thompson reduced the margin to four.

In a free-flowing first half, fly half Nicky Little opened the account for Fiji in the fourth minute with a long range penalty, in the process becoming the 13th player in international rugby history to pass 600 points.

Japan responded with two penalties from the boot of centre Shotaro Onishi taking a surprise 6-3 lead.

Both sides looked to play an expansive game at any opportunity but were troubled by handling errors.

Flanker Qera finally broke the shackles for Fiji in the 35th minute with an intercept try - converted by Little - which gave Fiji a four-point lead before a late penalty by Onishi brought Japan back within a point.

[Burgs]

The bits I could stay awake for looked like a really good match!
Look forward to watching the replay of this one.

[KenyaQuin]

Burgs and for the rest of you who missed this one, I can assure you it was a game worth watching. Quite an entertaining match, what you should expect from two teams with nothing to lose but abit of pride.

The Fijians were under no false sense of confidence in their ability to compete with Japan in Forward tactics and instead played the brand of rugby you would expect of them - quick ball off the ruck, run the ball, run it wide..run, run, run (I could imagine the chorus of "allez! allez!" in the crowd every time the Fijians caught the ball).

I think the Cherry Blossoms were perhaps the more structured team, certainly tried the odd maul more often than the Fijians. They certainly came to play a more rounded game (a good combination of pack and backline play), they just need to tighten their defensive patterns and tidy up their loose play.

I was hoping the Cherrys (or would it be Cherries?) would win (for the sake of my tippings) but was not disappointed.

[AndyS]

Saw the first bit, but recorded it and am looking forward to watching it tonight. As with the US, I wonder what would have happened if the Japanese hadn't been backing up on a short turnaround?

[gotheforce]

It indeed was a very very good match. Both teams were of the same calibre and both had opportunities to win. The final 10 minutes was nail biting and it looked for a minute like the Cherry blossoms might pull an overtime try.

And how bout that Fiji-ian flanker. His first try was spectacular, even the japanese backs couldn't catch him.

[Burgs]

It was basically a new team apparently Andy, they played their "2ndXV" against Australia and saved their "1sts" for a match they could potentially win.

[AndyS]

Good point...looks like they basically swapped their bench to the starting line-up (2,3,4,6,9,11,13) and all other spots got a new player. Half the team half backed up then.

[gotheforce]

I was wondering what happend to Daisuke Ohata. There was a lot of hype surrounding him for beating Campese's try scoring record. Any idea if he's injured or just left out of the matches?

And i thought the only reason why Japan lost in the end was prob the lack of the scrumhalf. Bryce Robbins didn't do too well in that new position and cost them a couple of opportunities.