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Glory so close
Stade Municipal, Toulouse. Saturday 16th October, 1999.
World Cup Pool C
France 28 Fiji 19
Fiji’s dream of a quarter-final berth in Dublin evaporated in the last 10 minutes of a gruelling match against France in the charged at-mosphere of Stade Muni-cipal in Toulouse.
Fiji had played so well throughout the third quarter to take a 19-13 lead over a mediocre French team, but two late, suspect tries from France gave them a flattering 28-19 win.
For the Fijians, this was probably the biggest match in their history. Across the 100 inhabited islands back home, every village had fanatical groups crowded around TV sets and radios until the wee hours, praying that their boys would overcome the odds and produce a shock.
“We’re obviously hugely disappointed, but I’m very proud of the team,” Fiji coach Brad Johnstone said. “We just didn’t nail it home when we had the advantage.”
Pretty poor luck with refereeing decisions from Paddy O’Brien resulted in Fiji having one legitimate try ruled out while the French took advantage of an unseen forward pass and interference for two of their tries – and needed O’Brien’s assistance for the penalty try in the 70th minute that turned the game.
Johnstone and skipper Greg Smith, however, to their credit took it on the chin and refused to criticise the officiating.
In a drab first half littered with wayward kicks and few opportunities, French prop Christophe Juillet scored the only try, diving through in the 22nd minute, while Richard Dourthe and Fiji fly-half Nicky Little managed a penalty apiece.
Just before the break, Alfie Uluinayau caught Ugo Mola dithering in his own 22, the ball popped out and Seta Tawake scooped it up for an apparent try, only to have O’Brien somehow call it a knock-on.
After the interval, Fiji took a grip on the game with Little kicking three penalty goals and converting a sublime individual try from Uluinayau, who had burst through a tackle on the halfway line, sidestepped Mola and sprinted home.
“At that point, I thought we would win,” Johnstone said.
But a mammoth scrum session on the Fiji 5-metre line that lasted a full seven minutes and eight reset scrums ended in O’Brien succumbing to crowd pressure and awarding France a penalty try, giving them a 20-19 lead.
A penalty goal from Christophe Lamaison in the 79th minute made it 23-19 and to cap off a lucky afternoon, Christophe Dominici touched down in injury time.
“I’m still proud of the way they went today,” Johnstone said. “My boys just need to learn how to compete at this level.”
As for the quarter-final play-off against England, the former All Black captain noted Fiji had nothing to lose. “We’ll just go out there and have a crack at them,” he said.
SCORING SEQUENCE (France first): 3-0, 3-3, 10-3, 13-3 (half-time), 13-6, 13-13, 13-16, 13-19, 20-19, 23-19, 28-19.
FRANCE: U Mola (X Garbajosa 56), P Bernat-Salles, R Dourthe, E Ntamack, C Dominici, C Lamaison, S Castaignède (F Galthié 71), C Californo, R Ibanez (captain) (M Dal Maso 52), F Tournaire, A Benazzi, F Pelous, M Lievremont, O Magne (A Costes 75), C Juillet (O Brouzet 65).
Tries: Tries: Juillet, penalty try, Dominici.
Cons: Dourthe (2). Pens: Dourthe (2), Lamaison.
FIJI: A Uluinayau, F Lasagavibau, V Satala, W Sotutu, M Bari (M Nakauta 56), N Little, J Rauluni, A Mocelutu (K Sewabu 48), S Tawake, I Tabua (K Sewabu 33-37), E Katalau, S Raiwalui, J Vietayaki, G Smith (captain), D Rouse.
Try: Uluinayau, Con: Little. Pens: Little (4)
Referee: P O’Brien (New Zealand).
Attendance: 36,000.
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