{"id":7758,"date":"2023-09-11T09:17:38","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T21:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=7758"},"modified":"2023-09-11T09:17:38","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T21:17:38","slug":"flying-fijians-fall-in-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=7758","title":{"rendered":"Flying Fijians fall in thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

A brave comeback by the Fiji Water Flying Fijians was not enough as they went down 32-26 to Wales in their opening Rugby World Cup match at Stade De Bordeaux in France.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was a match that lived up to expectations with both sides giving their all for 80 minutes with two disallowed tries.<\/p>\n

Fiji\u2019s bench really raised the bar with their efforts when they came on and nearly pulled off a memorable victory.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
The French fans got behind Fiji right from the start and never lost their voice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Fiji was penalized less than a minute into the match when Albert Tuisue failed to release the ball after a tackle was made, Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar made no mistake with his shot at goal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Winger Josh Adams punished Fiji with their first try in the corner after Semi Radradra missed a tackle in midfield.<\/p>\n

However, the national side managed to put a few phases together inside the opposition territory after Teti Tela missed a penalty before captain Waisea Nayacalevu sliced through the defensive line to score.<\/p>\n

Frank Lomani converted the try but after two minutes Nayacalevu and Radradra combined for a spectacular converted try to Lekima Tagitagivalu.<\/p>\n

Our side was penalized in the 22nd minute for offside with Biggar slotting another three points for a 14-11 lead to Fiji.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wales camped inside Fiji\u2019s 22 meter line for about five minutes following repeated penalties before the experienced George North was rewarded with a try in the 27th minute.<\/p>\n

Prop Eroni Mawi had a try disallowed by the Television Match Official close to halftime which many fans at Stade De Bordeaux disagreed with.<\/p>\n

Fiji\u2019s efforts to add more points in the dying stages of the first half failed with a loose carry and a turnover.<\/p>\n

It was a slow start after the break with Wales testing Fiji with high balls which paid off when speedster Louis Rees-Zamit diving over in the corner after Vinaya Habosi failed to control a cross field kick.<\/p>\n

Head coach Simon Raiwalui made a tactical change with Radradra moving to the wing and Josua Tuisova coming in at inside center.<\/p>\n

Simione Kuruvoli also replaced Lomani at halfback 10 minutes into the second half.<\/p>\n

Wales controlled the tempo in the second spell with his kicking game and put Fiji under pressure.<\/p>\n

Levani Botia came off the bench with Peni Ravai and immediately made an impact.<\/p>\n

Botia nearly scored shortly after coming on but lost the ball on the tryline and Nayacalevu also had a loose carry two minutes later before replacement hooker Elliot Dee put the result beyond doubt in the 64th minute with a try.<\/p>\n

The Nayacalevu captained side was completely shut down by Wales in the first 15 minutes of the second half but Viliame Mata was massive for Fiji all night.<\/p>\n

Tagitagivalu was sent off to bin and Wales also lost a player for indiscipline.<\/p>\n

Tuisova bulldozed his way through the tryline with less than 10 minutes to play.<\/p>\n

Mesake Doge crashed through the big Welsh forwards with two minutes left<\/p>\n

Ravai also had his try disallowed by the TMO.<\/p>\n

A late surge by the national side was not enough as Wales hung to win 32-26.<\/p>\n

Fiji will play Australia next Sunday at Saint Etienne.<\/p>\n

FBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A brave comeback by the Fiji Water Flying Fijians was not enough as they went down 32-26 to Wales in their opening Rugby World Cup match at Stade De Bordeaux in France.   It was a match that lived up to expectations with both sides giving their all for 80 minutes with two disallowed tries. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7760,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7758\/revisions\/7760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}