Latest news with #JiutaWainiqolo
Telegraph
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Indiscipline costs Scotland in defeat by Fiji that may dent their World Cup hopes
Fiji punished Scotland's indiscipline to land a thrilling win in Suva that was illuminated by another blockbuster performance from Jiuta Wainiqolo. The visitors were hampered by three yellow cards, with Darcy Graham seeing red for his second in the 66th minute following an offence that handed a penalty try to Fiji. The defeat by Fiji, who are ranked ninth in the world, will cost Scotland world rankings points and may result in them dropping outside the top six when the World Cup draw is made in December. As well as that of Wainiqolo, the Toulon wing who glided over to score in the second half, there were impressive outings from the half-back pairing of Simione Kuruvoli and Caleb Muntz as well as bristling centre Josua Tuisova. Temo Mayanavanua, Lekima Tagitagivalu and Elia Canakaivata underpinned a dogged display from the Fiji pack, too. Tevita Ikanivere, their skipper, benefited from a driving maul in the first half and Kalaveti Ravouvou of Bristol Bears dotted down out wide to make it 15-7 to the hosts at the break. Scotland had begun brightly in a bid to follow up their excellent triumph over the Maori All Blacks with a clever strike play that allowed Graham to release Kyle Rowe in the opening minutes. Gregor Townsend's team, shorn of their British and Irish Lions contingent and featuring Fergus Burke on Test debut at fly-half, would then lose impetus. Ben O'Keeffe sin-binned Ewan Ashman after the Scotland hooker slowed the ball down on his own try-line and the experienced Jamie Ritchie was forced to withdraw. Just beyond the half-hour mark, Graham received his first yellow card. His cover tackle on Sireli Maqala, on the back of an offload from Salesi Rayasi, came a shade too early. While Scotland were reduced to 14, tries from Ikanivere and Ravouvou allowed Fiji to pull ahead. Ashman's break brought about a response early in the second period as Tom Jordan latched onto Burke's slick take-and-give, but Fiji would not be denied. Wainiqolo slipped through three defenders to widen the gap with a wonderful solo run at the end of the third quarter and almost set up an 80-metre try directly from the ensuing restart. Only desperate scramble defence stopped a rampaging Tuisova. Having largely addressed the line-out issues that dogged their last-gasp loss to Australia a week previously, Fiji were able to maintain pressure and Graham pressed up to intercept Kuruvoli from an offside position. Because both Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula and Vilimoni Botitu were waiting unmarked, O'Keeffe deemed the infringement to be worth a penalty try as well as a yellow card. Rory Darge, the Scotland captain, produced a defiant showing in defeat but was left disappointed by avoidable errors that will need to be fixed ahead of a meeting with Samoa next Friday at Eden Park in Auckland. His opposite number, Ikanivere, was understandably delighted after Fiji repeated their 2017 win over the same rivals in the same city. 'I'm very happy, very thankful and very grateful,' he said. 'I think we deserved that win. We've worked very hard over these past two weeks and it was great to see the crowd getting the Mexican wave in. The last president said that there are only a few things that bring Fijians together and rugby is one of them. 'Thank you to the brothers from Scotland. They're a great team, the only Six Nations team to come to Fiji over the past few years. We hope they enjoy Fiji and have a safe trip back.'
Al Arabiya
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Al Arabiya
Darcy Graham red-carded as Fiji beats Scotland 29-14 on the 2nd match of its Pacific tour
Suva, Fiji (AP) Fiji conceded a try after two minutes but rallied to score four tries and beat 14-man Scotland 29-14 in a one-off test match on Saturday. Scotland was a man down from the 66th minute when winger Darcy Graham was sent off after receiving a second yellow card. Graham was first sent to the sin-bin in the 35th minute for an early tackle. The TMO ruled out a penalty try on that occasion but Fiji immediately scored its first try through captain Tevita Ikanivere. The second yellow card came when Graham was ruled to have deliberately impeded Fiji and prevented a certain try from being scored. The penalty try that resulted gave Fiji its final 15-point margin. Scotland also lost hooker Ewan Ashman to a yellow card in the ninth minute in an undisciplined performance. Winger Kyle Rowe scored the first try of the match only two minutes after the kickoff and New Zealand-born flyhalf Fergus Burke converted for a 7-0 lead. Fiji which lost 21-18 to Australia last weekend narrowed the lead with a penalty to flyhalf Caleb Muntz in the 20th minute then took its first lead at 8-7 with Ikanivere's try. Kalaveti Ravouvou sawed through the Scotland defense to score in the 39th minute and Fiji took a 15-7 lead to halftime. Scotland opened the second half with a slick try to center Tom Jordan converted by Burke which cut the lead to a point at 15-14. Fiji replied with a superb try to the Toulon winger and Olympic sevens gold medalist Jiuta Wainiqolo to increase its lead to 22-14 before the penalty try sealed its win. The win was Fiji's second over Scotland in five official tests and adds evidence that Fiji deserves to be included among the top 12 nations in world rugby in next year's inaugural Nations Cup. Scotland was playing the second match on its tour of the Pacific and will take on Samoa in Apia on Friday. Last weekend Scotland beat New Zealand Māori 29-26 at Whangārei New Zealand.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Darcy Graham red-carded as Fiji beats Scotland 29-14 on the 2nd match of its Pacific tour
SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Fiji conceded a try after two minutes but rallied to score four tries and beat 14-man Scotland 29-14 in a one-off test match on Saturday. Scotland was a man down from the 66th minute when winger Darcy Graham was sent off after receiving a second yellow card. Graham was first sent to the sin-bin in the 35th minute for an early tackle. Advertisement The TMO ruled out a penalty try on that occasion but Fiji immediately scored its first try through captain Tevita Ikanivere. The second yellow card came when Graham was ruled to have deliberately impeded Fiji and prevented a certain try from being scored. The penalty try that resulted gave Fiji its final 15-point margin. Scotland also lost hooker Ewan Ashman to a yellow card in the ninth minute in an undisciplined performance. Winger Kyle Rowe scored the first try of the match only two minutes after the kickoff and New Zealand-born flyhalf Fergus Burke converted for a 7-0 lead. Fiji, which lost 21-18 to Australia last weekend, narrowed the lead with a penalty to flyhalf Caleb Muntz in the 20th minute, then took its first lead at 8-7 with Ikanivere's try. Kalaveti Ravouvou sawed through the Scotland defense to score in the 39th minute and Fiji took a 15-7 lead to halftime. Advertisement Scotland opened the second half with a slick try to center Tom Jordan, converted by Burke, which cut the lead to a point at 15-14. Fiji replied with a superb try to the Toulon winger and Olympic sevens gold medalist Jiuta Wainiqolo to increase its lead to 22-14 before the penalty try sealed its win. The win was Fiji's second over Scotland in five official tests and adds evidence that Fiji deserves to be included among the top 12 nations in world rugby in next year's inaugural Nations Cup. Scotland was playing the second match on its tour of the Pacific and will take on Samoa in Apia on Friday. Last weekend Scotland beat New Zealand Maor i 29-26 at Whangārei, New Zealand. ___ AP rugby: The Associated Press
Associated Press
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Darcy Graham red-carded as Fiji beats Scotland 29-14 on the 2nd match of its Pacific tour
SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Fiji conceded a try after two minutes but rallied to score four tries and beat 14-man Scotland 29-14 in a one-off test match on Saturday. Scotland was a man down from the 66th minute when winger Darcy Graham was sent off after receiving a second yellow card. Graham was first sent to the sin-bin in the 35th minute for an early tackle. The TMO ruled out a penalty try on that occasion but Fiji immediately scored its first try through captain Tevita Ikanivere. The second yellow card came when Graham was ruled to have deliberately impeded Fiji and prevented a certain try from being scored. The penalty try that resulted gave Fiji its final 15-point margin. Scotland also lost hooker Ewan Ashman to a yellow card in the ninth minute in an undisciplined performance. Winger Kyle Rowe scored the first try of the match only two minutes after the kickoff and New Zealand-born flyhalf Fergus Burke converted for a 7-0 lead. Fiji, which lost 21-18 to Australia last weekend, narrowed the lead with a penalty to flyhalf Caleb Muntz in the 20th minute, then took its first lead at 8-7 with Ikanivere's try. Kalaveti Ravouvou sawed through the Scotland defense to score in the 39th minute and Fiji took a 15-7 lead to halftime. Scotland opened the second half with a slick try to center Tom Jordan, converted by Burke, which cut the lead to a point at 15-14. Fiji replied with a superb try to the Toulon winger and Olympic sevens gold medalist Jiuta Wainiqolo to increase its lead to 22-14 before the penalty try sealed its win. The win was Fiji's second over Scotland in five official tests and adds evidence that Fiji deserves to be included among the top 12 nations in world rugby in next year's inaugural Nations Cup. Scotland was playing the second match on its tour of the Pacific and will take on Samoa in Apia on Friday. Last weekend Scotland beat New Zealand Maor i 29-26 at Whangārei, New Zealand. ___ AP rugby:
Scotsman
5 days ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Fiji warning for Scotland - and it's not what you think
More to the islanders' game than virtuoso skill - but they've got that too Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Fiji scored a freewheeling wonder try in their narrow defeat by Australia on Sunday but Scotland have been warned that there is a lot more to the islanders' game than the kind of brilliance shown by Jiuta Wainiqolo as he set up Lekima Tagitagivalu. Stereotypes can be hard to shake off and the traditional Fijian sevens strengths of broken field running and brilliant offloading were to the fore against the Wallabies who squeezed home 21-18 thanks to captain Harry Wilson's try one minute from time. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But set-piece power is also now a key pillar of Fiji's game and Scotland will need to be on point in this area this Saturday when the teams meet in Suva. Fiji ran Australia close before losing out to a late, late try. | Getty Images 'I think their physicality and set-piece-wise, they're definitely stronger than what they've been in recent years and they take pride in that and if you give them front foot at scrum time, they'll put you under pressure,' said Pieter de Villiers, the Scotland scrum coach. 'They are big, strong men that can travel well out of the blocks in terms of scrum set or speed. If you give them that, you're going to be in for a long afternoon so it's important to start well and have a good process early on to take the scrum game to them.' De Villiers was largely satisfied with the way Scotland performed in the 29-26 win over the Maori All Blacks in their tour opener in Whangarei on Saturday. The scrum was an important testing ground given the Scots have gone on tour without first-choice props Zander Fagerson and Pierre Schoeman. In their absence, Fin Richardson and Nathan McBeth stepped up. Scotland have relied heavily on tighthead Fagerson in particular and de Villiers knows it is a position in which they must develop more strength in depth Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Maturity and growth 'It's always the issue of game time for props, specifically in terms of their maturity and their growth,' said the former France prop. 'They did well against a strong Maori side who I thought had improved scrum-wise since their game against Japan where they got caught slightly high and slightly slow. They've fixed a couple of things in their scrum and they were stronger against us but I thought we managed that well. And then there was one or two technical bits that we spoke about during the game with the players and fixed up quite well during the game, so that's comforting to see and that's exactly what we need in terms of growing our depth.' Scotland's Marshall Sykes in the thick of the action against the Maori All Blacks in Whangarei. | SNS Group / SRU 'Only matches will give you that experience. I think training is obviously great but it isn't the same as matches because of the fatigue generated due to general play and other activities on the pitch.' It was Richardson's first time playing for Scotland and de Villiers was largely satisfied with the Glasgow Warriors tighthead. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I thought he came through it very, very well,' said the scrum coach. 'We worked on a few things technically and there were a few big scrum weeks training wise and there was a lot of growth session after session. I thought Fin did very well there on the day, yes definitely.'
