Following their 32-10 win over Tonga on Saturday, the FIJI Water Flying Fijians now lead Pool A of the Pacific Nations Cup.
Fiji leads with five points on the board after their first PNC match while Tonga and Samoa occupy the second and third spots on the table with four points and zero respectively.
Prior to the Fiji v Tonga match, Tonga had led the table following their 30-16 victory to Samoa on home soil at the Teufaiva Stadium in Nuku’alofa.
The Flying Fijians now fly to New Zealand to play against Samoa at Eden Park in Auckland.
As the team sets its sights for the match against Samoa, head coach Mick Byrne says the team would have a lot to reflect on following their victory against Tonga.
“It was a tough game, our first game in – you could see they were match-hardened,” Byrne said.
“They started very well. We didn’t get our game going as well as we would have liked, and they controlled the tempo. We’ll take some learnings for that.”
The team had to bounce back from a slow match progression earlier in the game to retain possession and establish dominance with a penalty kick from fly-half Caleb Muntz.
Meanwhile, for their opponents this week, Samoa, their performance in this week’s match will add towards their chances of qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
While they have an opportunity to pull through due to the competition’s format of three teams for Pool A and B, the Samoans will ensure they finish higher in this year’s PNC compared to their third place finish last year.