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23 October, 2003
Fiji can exhale, at last
From Jeremy Duxbury at RWC 2003
Coach Mac McCallion can probably sleep a little easier tonight after his team overcame Japan 41-13 in a more dominant display of running rugby in Townsville as all five of Fiji’s tries came from the back three.
Despite the substandard performances against France and the United States, Fiji will now target the crucial Scotland match on 1 November with far more confidence of an upset and a quarter-final berth.
Last week, Mr McCallion said that had they lost to the USA, it would have been "absolutely disastrous."
"I don’t think I’d get on the plane and go back to Fiji… I think I’d go the other way," he said.
But with fullback Norman Ligairi, who had been dropped for the match against the Eagles, in scintillating form and wing Aisea Tuilevu looking much more comfortable than when he’s at centre, Fiji kept the pressure on the Japanese right through to the end
The seven changes to the starting line-up injected some life and variety into Fiji’s play, although Japan themselves were very disappointing in the second half and failed to show the form of their earlier matches with France and Scotland.
Ligairi, who put in a man-of-the-match performance, was in an inspirational mood, running elusively from the back and putting up some huge "bombs".
And the return of Isaia Rasila to the front row gave the Fiji pack far more mobility even if the Japan scrum was often in control.
But the victory came at a high cost – starting fly-half Waisale Serevi whom many had hoped would oil the backline cogs – went off after just 11 minutes with a suspected broken collar bone. Halfback Sami Rabaka and loose forward Alivereti Mocelutu could also be out for the remainder of the tournament.
Serevi kicked an early penalty goal from wide on the left, but he had hardly had a chance to work his magic when he had to be replaced by Nicky Little.
Rasila had a hand in the opening try. Seru Rabeni, looking more relaxed than in the earlier games, broke the Japanese line, offloaded to Little, whose clever flick found Rasila. The Nadroga skipper then had the simple task to feed Ligairi and the try was scored.
Three minutes later, Tuilevu showed his class with a robust run down the right flank, shrugging off two tackles to power his way to the line for a 16-6 lead.
Though far from excelling, Fiji were able to string several phases together without turning over too much ball. Rabaka, playing in his first World Cup match ever despite making his Test debut a decade ago, showed some solid play and a keenness previously lacking in the earlier Pool B matches.
His injury – a suspected broken bone in his foot – came after 50 minutes, and now has the Fiji midfield looking pretty thin without a back-up halfback or fly-half.
Coach McCallion has the option of calling on players from outside the squad in time for the Scotland clash in eight days’ time, with Suva halfback Saiasi Fuli and Auckland fly-half Isi Nacewa possible replacements.
If Mocelutu is also out, his natural replacement would be the Brumbies’ Radike Samo.
For all the guile and steel shown in their opening matches, Japan looked mediocre at best Thursday except for one flash of brilliance when a quick feed from the scrum saw fly-half Andrew Miller in acres of space on the right to dot down.
Miller ended up getting all of Japan’s points, which included a hefty dropped goal from just inside his own half on 17 minutes.
So Fiji led 16-13 at the break but with the ease in which their two tries had come, one felt that the squeeze on Japan wasn’t far away.
From the opening play at the restart, skipper Alifereti Doviverata coughed up the ball having reached the try-line in a move that brought back those awful 1987 memories of Severo Koroduadua against France.
Fortunately for Dovi, whose wife gave birth midway through the second half, his backs had a dominant day over their counterparts.
The high punts hoisted by Little, Rabeni and Ligairi put the Japanese under severe pressure, which resulted in drops, turnover possession and vast gains in territory. It was a clear tactic that worked very well.
Ten minutes into the second half, Tailevu centre Epeli Ruivadra drew two defenders, wriggled between them and popped up the ball for Tuilevu outside him to gallop home for his brace.
Little converted and Fiji had a 10-point lead at 23-13.
But the moment of brilliance for the day came from Ligairi in the 66th minute. Back to collect the long punt out from the Japan defence, Ligairi was fed by his skipper and decided to step out of the shadows of Rupeni Caucau and Vilimoni Delasau by scoring a quite sensational solo try.
Beginning with that low-angled running style of his, he opened his stride to the right, chipped a perfect kick over the Japanese wing and darted past him. Reaching the ball on halfway, Ligairi hoofed the ball soccer style for another 50 metres down the touchline. For once, the bounce was kind to him and the ball came to rest a couple of metres from the try-line.
His sprint was against the cover defence coming across from centre, and a more cautious player may have dived on the ball and tried to slide over. But fearless Norman simply scooped the ball up one-handed in mid-dive, secured it with the other hand and smacked it down on the line in one graceful movement that TV channels will show again and again in the weeks ahead.
To round off the try-scoring, replacement wing Marika Vunibaka finished off a simple move on the left to widen the scores.
While Fiji can breathe a collective sigh of relief, they must still bear in mind Scotland’s experience in the last match of the pool. They have to step up another level, get the rucks and mauls sorted and improve the line-out and scrums – a tall order for one week, but we also see Scotland too have problems of their own.
23 October, 2003
Fiji 41 Japan 13
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
Half-time: 16-13
Referee: Nigel Williams (Wal)
Att: 17,269
Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury (Eng), Iain Ramage (Sco)
Match official 4: Andrew Cole (Aus)
Match official 5: Greg Hinton (Aus)
TV match official: Donal Courtney
FIJI: 15 Norman Ligairi, 14 Aisea Tuilevu, 13 Epeli Ruivadra, 12 Seru Rabeni, 11 Vilimoni Delasau (Marika Vunibaka 67), 10 Waisale Serevi (Nicky Little 11), 9 Sami Rabaka (Mosese Rauluni 50), 8 Alifereti Doviverata (capt), 7 Koli Sewabu, 6 Alivereti Mocelutu (Sisa Koyamoibole 18), 5 Kele Leawere (Vula Maimuri 57), 4 Emori Katalau, 3 Naca Seru (Joeli Veitayaki 40), 2 Greg Smith (Bill Gadolo 73, yellow card 79-), 1 Isaia Rasila.
Coach: Mac McCallion
Tries: Ligairi (2), Tuilevu (2), Vunibaka; Conversions: Little (2), Penalty goals: Little (3), Serevi
JAPAN: 15 Tsutomu Matsuda (Toru Kurihara 60), 14 Daisuke Ohata, 13 Reuben Parkinson, 12 Yukio Motoki, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa (George Konia 68), 10 Andrew Miller, 9 Takashi Tsuji (Yuji Sonoda 54), 8 Takeomi Ito (Ryota Asano 72), 7 Takuro Miuchi (capt), 6 Naoya Okubo, 5 Adam Parker, 4 Hajime Kiso (Masao Amino 53-57), 3 Masahiko Toyoyama, 2 Masaaki Sakat (Masao Amino 60), 1 Masahito Yamamoto (Shin Hasegawa 60).
Not used: Koichi Kubo
Coach: Shogo Mukai
Try: Miller; Conversion: Miller; Penalty goal: Miller; Dropped goal: Miller
Scoring sequence (Fiji first)
2min – PEN FIJ, Serevi – 3-0
13min – PEN JPN, Miller – 3-3
16min – PEN FIJ, Little – 6-3
17min – DG JPN, Miller – 6-6
21min – TRY FIJ, Ligairi – 11-6
24min – TRY FIJ, Tuilevu – 16-6
29min – TRY JPN, Miller, conversion Miller – 16-13
Half-time
51min – TRY FIJ, Tuilevu, conversion Little – 23-13
57min – PEN FIJ, Little – 26-13
66min – TRY FIJ, Ligairi – 31-13
72min – TRY FIJ, Vunibaka, conversion Little 38-13
77min – PEN FIJ, Little – 41-13
Full-time
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RUGBY WORLD CUP 2003