The Flying Fijians went down fighting 30-24 to England in their Rugby World Cup quarterfinal clash in France this morning.
The Fijians made a remarkable comeback in the second half and drew the match level at 24-24 after trailing to the English 24-10 earlier on.
Discipline was Fiji’s biggest enemy today as they gave away many penalties and this allowed Owen Farrell to take advantage with five successive kicks.
Farrell kicked the first points of the match in the 10th minute before Manu Tuilagi crashed over for the first try.
Frank Lomani missed a penalty for Fiji in the 17th minute but made amends with his second attempt of the day two minutes later.
England replied with their second try in the 21st minute as centre Joe Merchant powered his way to the line.
Fiji was dealt with a double blow as winger Vinaya Habosi was sin-binned for a high tackle while prop Luke Tagi picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Mesake Doge.
Some good carries and good play by the Fijian forward pack saw Number 8 Viliame Mata find his way through and Lomani successfully converted.
Fiji gave away two penalties in the last 10 minutes of the first half and Farrell successfully converted to give England a 21-10 lead at halftime.
Farrell kicked his fourth penalty early in the second half before the flamboyant Fijians staged a strong comeback and scored two successive tries through replacement Peni Ravai and fly-half Vilimoni Botitu with winger Semi Radradra heavily involved in the setting up of both scores.
The English used smart tactics and managed to surge ahead with a Farrell drop kick and he later kicked a penalty to put them ahead by 6 points.
Fiji did not give up and searched for a converted try to win the clash.
They pushed hard and had good possession in the last phases of play which saw the match being pushed a little more than two minutes beyond normal time but England somehow managed to force the opponents to make a mistake and kicked the ball out to book their place in the semifinals and end Fiji’s campaign.
