FIJI VS JAPAN
FIJI vs JAPAN
|
|
|
Brave Blossoms impress as Fiji slump By William Tabuya Fiji struggled to defeat Japan 29-15 in their final Pacific 5 Nations match at Nagai Stadium in Osaka as the Cherry Blossoms dug deep to make a superb comeback but couldn't quite find the extra strength to cross the Fiji line a third time. From a late turnover under the Fiji posts, promising flanker Akapusi Qera ran the length of the field to score the winner and put the result beyond doubt, but Fiji will be far from satisfied from a performance that could be described as mediocre at best. Japan appeared more organized as they dominated particularly the scrums and set pieces and at times threatened to break the Fijian line through timed passes and powerful runs. The much-fancied flying Fijian side, who were without star winger Rupeni Caucau, were made to work extra hard as the winless Japan team fought tooth and nail to give their supporters something to talk about. After an exchange of penalties by Eiji Ando for Japan and Seremaia Bai for Fiji, Kameli Ratuvou gave the Fijians the lead 10-3 after a bustling run from wing Maleli Kunavore saw an offload land perfectly in Ratuvou’s arms. On the stroke of half-time, the Fijians caught the Japanese napping when they took a quick line-out and Sekove Leawere ran in untouched. Bai missed the conversion as the teams went for the break with Fiji leading 15-3. The second half see-sawed until Keiji Takei got over in the corner and then New Zealander Phil O’Reilly; the best of the Japanese pack, got a strange try as the ball bobbed about. That brought the score to 15-15 with nine minutes to play. Replacement loose forward, Alifereti Doviverata got over for a try with four minutes to go by powering his way through two desperate tackles to dive near the corner. Then at the death, Qera's long run shattered all hopes for the local side to come back into the game.
Match Statistics
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29 |  |
15 |
| Fiji | Japan | |
|
Tournament: Pacific Nations Cup Date: Saturday 01 Jul 2006 Venue: Nagai Stadium, Osaka Half-time: 15-3 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England) Touch judges: Jonathan White (NZ), Shinji Aida (Japan) Fiji Game Number: 597 Fiji Test Match Number: 253 |
| FIJI | JAPAN | |||||||||||||
| Card | PTS | D | P | C | T | PLAYER | V | PLAYER | T | C | P | D | PTS | Card |
| 0 | - | - | - | - | Ligairi, Norman | 15 | Takashi Miyake | - | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Kunavore, Maleli
|
14 | Kosuke Endo | - | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 5 | - | - | - | 1 | Ratuvou, Kameli | 13 |
Atsushi Moriya
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - | Rabeni, Seru | 12 | Hideyuki Yoshida | - | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 5 | - | - | - | 1 |
Leawere, Sekove
|
11 |
Nataniela Oto
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 7 | - | 1 | 2 | - | Bai, Seremaia | 10 | Eiji Ando | - | 1 | 1 | - | 5 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - | Rauluni, Jacob | 9 |
Mamoru Ito
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Talei, Netani
|
8 | Hajime Kiso | - | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Ratuva, Aca
|
7 |
Phillip O'Reilly
 |
1 | - | - | - | 5 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - | Naevo, Semisi | 6 |
Takashi Kikutani
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Raiwalui, Simon 
|
5 |
Tsuyoshi Sato
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - | Domolailai, Isoa | 4 | Hitoshi Ono (capt) | - | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - | Samo, Ravuama | 3 | Ryo Yamamura | - | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Koto, Sunia
|
2 |
Yuji Matsubara
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Bale, Jo
|
1 |
Yuichi Hisodami
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Lotawa, Joeli
(Koto Sunia) |
16 |
Takashi Yamaoka
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Nagi, Apisai
(Bale Jo) |
17 |
Masahito Yamamoto
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 5 | - | - | - | 1 |
Qera, Akapusi
(Ratuva Aca) |
18 |
Takanori Kumagae
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
|
5 | - | - | - | 1 |
Doviverata, Alifereti
(Talei Netani) |
19 |
Tomouki Nakai
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | |
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Vucago, Emosi
|
20 |
Wataru Ikeda
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 2 | - | - | 1 | - |
Tora, Jo
(Leawere Sekove) |
21 |
Keiji Takei
|
1 | - | - | - | 5 | ||
| 0 | - | - | - | - |
Ruivadra, Epeli
(Kunavore Maleli) |
22 |
Yuta Imamura
|
- | - | - | - | 0 | ||
Coach: Wayne Pivac |
||||||||||||||
Key:
| Captain |
|
| Yellow Card |
|
| Red Card |
|
| Sub In |
|
| Sub Out |
|
| Bloodbin |
|
Scoring Sequence 
|
05
min -
PEN GOAL for Japan by Eiji Ando 0-3 10 min - PEN GOAL for Fiji by Bai, Seremaia 3-3 17 min - TRY for Fiji by Ratuvou, Kameli 8-3 17 min - CONVERSION for Fiji by Bai, Seremaia 10-3 29 min - PEN GOAL MISSED for Japan by Eiji Ando 10-3 Half-Time 42 min - TRY for Fiji by Leawere, Sekove 15-3 42 min - CONVERSION MISSED for Fiji by Bai, Seremaia 15-3 63 min - TRY for Japan by Keiji Takei 15-8 63 min - CONVERSION for Japan by Eiji Ando 15-10 70 min - TRY for Japan by Phillip O'Reilly 15-15 70 min - CONVERSION MISSED for Japan by Eiji Ando 15-15 77 min - TRY for Fiji by Doviverata, Alifereti 20-15 77 min - CONVERSION for Fiji by Bai, Seremaia 22-15 80 min - TRY for Fiji by Qera, Akapusi 27-15 80 min - CONVERSION for Fiji by Tora, Jo 29-15 Full-Time |
|
|
