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pacific-nations-cup
Flying Fijians captain Tevita Ikanivere is delighted to be switching to Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup final with a 45-29 victory over Canada, but noted that that kind of performance might not be good enough next weekend in Tokyo.
Fiji took the Pacific Nations Cup title when the tournament was last held Japan two years ago, before I confirmed it at last year’s Utah edition. The defending champions have now earned the chance to play for silver once again, and will face Japan in the decider.
It was a dream start for the Flying Fijians against Canada, with Kitione Salawa knocking over a goal kick after just 21 seconds. Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula helped set the tone for the afternoon by slotting home a hard-hitting conversion from the right.
Ikanivere was one of six goalscorers for Fiji, with man of the match Motikai Murray starring with a second-half brace. But there are still things to work on, as the captain noted around 40 minutes after the full-time whistle.
“We’re delighted to get the win, we’re back to winning ways, but there’s still a lot of things, chances we didn’t take today. The points were dropped. I don’t think it’s going to be good enough next week,” said Ikaniver RugbyPass.
“We have to be better at that. I think we have to be more physical at the beginning of the game to prevent the opponent from getting a shot.”
Fiji couldn’t have started the semi-final any better thanks to individual brilliance from Salava and it wasn’t long before Armstrong-Ravula strung another strike onto the sticks and Frank Lomani raced over for five points in the fourth minute.
Traffic was initially one-way, with the Flying Fijians dominating both the battles for possession and territory at Osaka’s Hanazono Rugby Stadium. But Canada from there they began to claw their way back into the contest, leading to a key try from Mason Flesch.
McMullin also took a penalty in the upright around the 26th minute and a well-worked effort past Sion Parry made things very interesting late in the half. It was a torrid start for Fiji, but they ended up leading by just nine at the break.
The Flying Fijians made some significant strides towards victory in the second half as they ran off 19 unanswered points, before the Canadians managed to come back again. Two late tries for Canada made it 16 points with 10 minutes to go.
“Especially as a young side coming in (with) not too many experienced players, we talked about that. It’s a big job, especially when you think it’s going to be too easy, especially if you score two tries in four, five minutes,” reflected Ikanivere.
“We just made a mistake and we didn’t do enough to fix it – mistakes are bound to happen, but that’s how we bounce back.
“The first 20 minutes of the second half were good, we made mistakes and we all solved it together, everyone tried. That’s how we should start the game and be more ruthless and finish the games better.”
Fiji ended the match with more line breaks, turnovers won and post-contact meters, but there were plenty of statistics that favored the Canadians. Canada may have been better from four to seven tries, but finished the match with 62 percent of the territory.
The Canadians had more than 55 percent of the possession and conceded fewer turnovers. Canadian captain Lucas Rumball also topped the list in total tackles, defenders beaten and tackles finished during an impressive 80-minute shift at No.8.
“They did a great job of clearing (at the breakdown), actually tackling the tacklers. Even I made a couple of mistakes because I tried to hook and I got cleared early.”
“We just have to get better individually. I think there’s work to be done and we’re just going to grow from this and get better next week.”