Fijian winger Timoci Tavatavanawai scored a try in Moana Pasifika’s narrow 31-30 loss to the Blues in Round 11 fixture of the Super Rugby Pacific on Saturday.
Both sides battled hard and in the 13th minute, Christian Lealiifano broke the deadlock with a penalty in advantage for Moana.
Five minutes later, the Blues missed a penalty through Harry Plummer but soon after the side scored three back to back tries from Reiko Ioane, Kurt Eklund and Caleb Clark while Plummer converted once for a 17-3 lead.
Tavatavanawai caught everybody by surprise as he took a quick tap penalty before barging over the try-line without a finger being laid on him and Lealiifano converted before Abraham Pole ran for Moana’s second try.
The Blues had a slender 17-15 lead at the break.
The Blues got their remaining second half tries from Sam Darry and were awarded a penalty try in the 80th minute.
Moana’s second half tries came from Lealiifano and Fine Inisi while Lealiifano converted once and D’Angelo Leuila booted a penalty.
