A VALIANT effort was shown by the FIJI Water Flying Fijians in Rotorua, New Zealand to win 29-15 against Samoa in their second Pacific Nations Cup match.
Samoa was the first to add points on the board with a try from Pita Anae Ah-Sue in the fourth minute of play.
A successful penalty kick by Rodney Iona made in the eighth minute helped extended their lead while Fiji searched for an answer to that.
They replied with an unconverted try from hooker and captain Tevita Ikanivere in the 14th minute, made possible by a moving brigade of forwards protecting him from any intervention by the Samoans.
Samoa placed seven more points on the board with a converted try from Joel Lam in the 19th minute.
The match trailed with slips in defence for both teams and near reaches of the try-line broken up by missed opportunities.
In the 37th minute, Seta Tamanivalu scored a converted try which helped them advance on the scoreboard from their 15-5 deficit earlier.
Taleni Seu of Samoa was shown a yellow card in the 49th minute and sent off following a dangerous tackle given to Tamanivalu.
One man short for the Samoans did not destabilise their defences however it instilled in them a determined push to extend their points, to which the Flying Fijians caught up to with a try from Kalaveti Ravouvou.
Ravouvou made the try in the 79th minute, the result of set-pieces executed by the team.
As the match went into full time, Seu was again shown the yellow card that became a red one.
Meanwhile, as Samoa had the services of fly-half Rodney Iona in the match, Fiji’s fly-half Caleb Muntz made two conversions while Kemu Valetini stepped into make the conversion at the 80th minute.
The result means that Tonga has now qualified for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
