Pacific Nations Cup final review - Ruck

Pacific Nations Cup final review

Pacific Nations Cup review: Final- Fiji triumph in tough clash with Samoa.

Fiji 39-29 Samoa

Fiji issued a warning to their World Cup rivals as they overcame Samoa to lift the Pacific Nations Cup at Swangard Stadium, British Colombia on Monday.

The flying Fijians, who meet England, Wales and Australia at the World Cup, were made to fight for their victory. Samoa bravely battled back from a 17-9 deficit at half-time to at one point narrowly lead.

But Fiji came roaring back with three tries in succession, opening up a 12-point lead and a 36-24 score line.

Fiji in total outscored Samoa by five tries to three despite the score line see-sawing throughout the match.

“It was difficult. We put our hands up to Samoa,” said Fijian captain Akapusi Qera. “They came out firing. They wanted to win, and we managed to get some tactics right. In the second half, we pulled it off.”

Tonga 31-20 Japan

Tonga won the third place playoff with a dominating 31-20 win over Japan.

Halani Aulika, Fetu’u Vainikolo and Sonatane Takulua had the tries for the Tongans while Kurt Morath added two conversions and four penalties.

Hendrik Tui had the only try for the Japanese who got five penalties from Ayumu Goromaru to make the score more respectable

USA 15-13 Canada

United States edged past Canada to finish the tournament fifth thanks to five kicks from fly-half AJ MacGinty, which included a last-gasp drop-goal in the dying seconds to win the game.

Nick Blevins scored the game’s only try for winless Canada while Liam Underwood kicked two penalties and a conversion.

We weren’t urgent enough in the first half. They turned the ball over on us a few times,” said Canadian head coach Kieran Crowley. “We just weren’t good enough. They had three yellow cards, and we didn’t capitalize on it. Pretty disappointing.”