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| Friday, 24 October 2003 |
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Five-try Fiji eye quarters TOWNSVILLE, Australia, Thursday, (Reuters) Two tries each for Aisea Tuilevu and Norman Ligairi inspired Fiji to a 41-13 World Cup pool B victory over Japan on Thursday that kept them in the hunt for a quarter-final berth. The two backs both scored once in each half, with replacement Marika Vunibaka adding a late fifth as Fiji showed some signs of their classic handling game - amid a welter of errors and messy forward play. Fiji, crushed 61-18 by France before edging the United States 19-18, turned on the power in the second half after hard-working Japan had held them to a 16-13 lead at halftime. The victory keeps them in with a chance of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 1987, but they will almost certainly have to beat Scotland in their final game on November 1 in Sydney to do so. Defeat for Japan ends their already slim qualification hopes and takes their tournament losing streak to nine, dating back to 1991 when they claimed their sole World Cup win, a 52-8 success over Zimbabwe. As in both their previous games against Scotland and France, Japan were within range early in the second half but again they fell away alarmingly after an hour, failing to add to their 13 point first-half tally, all scored by flyhalf Andy Miller with a try, conversion, penalty and a drop goal. Fiji coach Mac McCallion's plan to spark up his troops by the inclusion of sevens specialist Waisale Serevi lasted only 10 minutes as the long-serving flyhalf, who opened the scoring with a third minute penalty, injured a shoulder and was replaced by Nicky Little. |
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