Japan's Jumpei Ohira is tracked by the Fiji defence at Deramore, Belfast Harlequins
Photo: Stephen Scullion
21 APRIL 2007
By Dean McFarlane
Fiji scored ten tries to beat Japan 60-12 and claim 11th place in Division A at the IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007.
Fiji opened the scoring in their first attack into Japan’s half. Flanker Jese Cirikisuva burst through the defence to touchdown behind the posts and Ratu Natubavivi Kasami added the conversion to give Fiji an early seven point lead.
Fiji dominated the opening half and added further tries from captain John Vugakoto, who used his pace to exploit an overlap, whilst Henry Speight scored two before the break. Seremaia Tagicakibau scored both conversions for a comfortable 24-0 half time lead.
The second half began with Fiji quickly reasserting their dominance as Vuga Tagicakibau pounced on a charged down kick after two minutes for Fiji's fifth try.
Japan responded well and opened their account with a try from Jamie Blackie who was driven over following a driving maul and a conversion by Mizuki Yanagihara.
Speight capped his tournament by crossing the line twice more with Waqabaca Kotobaluva and Samuela Vumisa also scoring and Tevita Taga adding a conversion.
Japan added a late consolation through Blackie, who showed his pace to out strip the Fiji cover and continued to attack the Fijian line, but it was too late for Japan.
Fiji added to Japan’s woes with a 10th and final try right on full time. Vugakoto sped down the wing and past Japan’s cover defence to score behind the posts.
Isikeli Vuruna added the conversion to give Fiji a comfortable 60-12 victory and earn them their second win in from their debut year in Division A.
QUOTES
Fiji coach Josua Tokula: “I am very proud of the boys today, their performance was fantastic and they did their country proud. We were only promoted to the A division last year and we have built a good platform for our next teams to build on by staying in the top division.”
Fiji captain John Vugakoto: “The boys performed very well today, we were concentrating on getting points on the board, but it was nice to be able to score 10 tries against a strong team like Japan. This tournament has been fantastic, we have been able to test ourselves against the best players in the world and also have been able to see a new part of the world.”
Japan coach Misutake Hagimoto: “We are really disappointed with today’s result. We have not improved throughout the five matches of the tournament but we will try to learn from the experience.”
Japan captain Tappei Higashide: “I am very disappointed, we really wanted to win for Japan, but just couldn’t get things right.”
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