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Fiji stamped their ticket to the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup final with a dominant 22 – 3 victory over the USA Eagles.
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Scott Lawrence’s side showed plenty of endeavour as they, by and large, frustrated the Fijians with a relentless and physical defensive effort. This being said, the Eagles fell foul to a few moments of individual brilliance which proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Here is how the USA fared in their loss at the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.
1. Jack Iscaro – 6
Mirroring the issues of his tighthead, Iscaro went backwards at a rate of knots at scrum time in the first half an hour conceding two penalties. Returning from a ten-minute injury substitution, the loosehead grew into the contest to put in a solid shift for the rest of the contest. Eventually his efforts would tell as the Eagles replaced the rest of the front row which saw them gain parity at scrum time.
2. Sean McNulty – 4
Brought into the starting line-up for his dynamic ball carrying, the hooker was industrious but fell foul to the slippery conditions with a few key handling errors. Defensively, McNulty was on song with 12 tackles during his 46 minutes on the park, which helped his team frustrate a dominant Fijian pack.
3. Paul Mullen – 3
Blitzed at scrum time to a point where he was replaced in the 34th minute, having conceded three scrum penalties in what was a really difficult and disappointing performance for the Irish-born tighthead.
4. Viliami Helu – 6
Removed from the action at half-time, the lock spent his time on the pitch getting blasted backwards at both set piece time and in the carry. Defensively, however, he got through some good work with 8 tackles whilst also ruling the skies with 7 line-out takes.
5. Jason Damm – 5
Pilfering the Fijian ball, the lock was a nuisance at the breakdown and was rewarded with 2 turnovers to go with his 12 tackles. Trucking along for the full eighty minutes, the lock did the hard yards for his team.
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6. Paddy Ryan – 6
Relentless in his effort, Ryan carried hard, hit rucks and put in some bone-shuddering tackles with 1 truly dominant hit. With the ball in hand, he carried 6 times for 17 meters into a feverish Fijian defensive line.
7. Cory Daniel – 6.5
The USA’s go-to hard hitter had a strong outing once again, although he will be frustrated that he was blasted off the ball at the breakdown that led to the Fijian try. This moment aside, he was a workhorse with 16 tackles before trudging off the pitch with the tank firmly in the red.
8. Thomas Tu’avao – 7.5
Stamped his authority on proceedings with a clutch try-saving tackle early in the contest, Tu’avao picked up where Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz was his team’s go-to carrier with 8. On the other side of proceedings, he put in a whopping 19 tackles, including 1 dominant effort to assert himself as the top player in the Eagles pack today.
9. Ruben De Haas – 3
Struggled behind a pack that were getting blasted at scrum time and around the breakdown. He departed just before the half-time whistle.
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10. Chris Mattina – 5.5
Direct in his approach, Mattina took advantage of his first start of the campaign in the ten shirt with a composed performance in the face of adversity.
Opening account with an early penalty following a sustained attack by his team, Mattina generally took the opportunities that were presented to him.
11. Nate Augspurger – 7.5
Hustling and bustling, the skipper brought a top-notch work rate as he had it all to do against a surging Fijian attack. Cutting in on several occasions to shut down a handful of attacks by forcing the Fijian ball carriers into errors. In attack, he looked the most likely to cause the Fijians trouble with some exceptional half-breaks. Unfortunately, he rarely had the correct support, which saw these breaks fizzle out.
12. Tavite Lopeti – 7
Exceptionally strong in the carry, Lopeti had arguably his best showing of this year’s competition. Operating as a second distributor, the Seattle centre took the heat off flyhalf, Chris Mattina, in the face of a physical Fijian defence.
13. Dominic Besag – 5
Taking a high-risk, high-reward approach to defence, Besag, by and large, limited the Fijian’s ability to get wide with an ultra-aggressive press. When he did miss a first-up tackle, he scrambled well to cover the next phase and had a few integral try-saving interventions.
14. Conner Mooneyham – 3
Held down his flank defensively but was a complete non-factor in attack as he simply couldn’t get his hands on the ball.
15. Toby Fricker – 7
Covered acres of space in the backfield with his wingers defending higher in the line, Fricker essentially shut down the Fijian kicking game. Coming into the line at key points, the former Ospreys fullback covered for his inside defenders, who were exposed out wide with their hard press, leaving them susceptible to short kicks and looping passes. One such moment saw him stop a certain Fijian try with a rib-tickling hit that stopped the Fijian from moving in its tracks.
Replacements
16. Kapeli Pifeleti – 7
Made a massive impact when he came on both at scrum time and in open play, as he came within a marginally forward pass of breaking clear for a try.
17. Jake Turnbull – 3
Took over for ten minutes as an injury replacement for Jack Iscaro in the first half and spent his whole time defending as Fiji scored ten points in this period.
18. Pono Davis – 5
Took over from the struggling Mullen, and whilst he had his struggles, there is no doubt he was the better option to try and counter the impressive Fiji front row.
19. Gregory Peterson – 6.5
Joined the action at the start of the second half in a bid to bring some much-needed power to the set piece. Although Fiji maintained the upper hand at scrum time, the Eagles pack held for just enough time to clear their lines. In open play, the regular skipper was immense on both sides of the ball, with some big-time collisions.
20. Tesimoni Tonga’uiha – 4
Took over from Cory Daniel in the 60th minute, got through his work defensively, and played his part in a resurgent scrummaging effort.
21. Bryce Campbell – N/A
Came on with five minutes to play which didn’t give him enough time to impact the contest.
22. Rand Santos – N/A
Similar to Campbell as he came on with a few minutes to play without any noticeable interventions.
23. JP Smith – 6.5
Took over from De Haas towards the tail end of the first half and brought a calm demeanour to what had been a total firestorm at the breakdown and scrum in the first half. Overall, he upped the ante for his team, albeit he did seem to panic when his team were inches from the Fijian line by flinging a wide ball when close carries would’ve sufficed.
