Fiji battled from behind to beat Asian champions Japan 24-12 yesterday to chalk up their second win after three matches in the Pacific Nations Cup.
Fiji, who narrowly lost to New Zealand Maori 11-7 at home a week ago, trailed Japan 9-3 at halftime, but scored three converted tries in the second half in driving rain at the National Stadium.
“We always knew it was going to be tough playing Japan in Japan,” Fiji coach Ilivasi Tabua said. “It was not until the final 15 minutes that the game changed.”
Disappointed Japan coach and All Blacks legend John Kirwan said: “We had ample opportunity to win today, but threw the game away with errors.”
Japan’s starting 15, unchanged from the side that beat Tonga 35-13 last week, opened the scoring against a disorganized Fiji in the fifth minute with a penalty goal by James Arlidge.
Taniela Rawaqa leveled the scores with a penalty six minutes later, but the Brave Blossoms went ahead with two more penalty goals by Arlidge, who missed a third attempt a minute before the break.
“We told the boys at halftime to play in their territory and make Japan make mistakes and score from them and we did,” Tabua said.
Fiji started to click in the second half, with Sireli Naqelevuki making the most of a handling error by Japan fullback Shaun Webb to run in their first try in the 50th minute, with two more coming through Rawaqa and Vereniki Goneva.
Arlidge restored Japan’s lead in the 54th minute with his fourth penalty, taking the score to 12-10.
But it was his error that led to Fiji’s second try two minutes later when he scuffed his kick so badly it hit one of his teammates and from the resulting scrum, Rawaqa crossed the line.
Goneva touched down with two minutes to go, with Rawaqa scoring his third conversion.
It was the eighth win for Fiji over Japan in their 10 meetings.
In their previous encounter, Fiji struggled past the Blossoms 35-31 in Toulouse, in what was regarded by many as one of the best games of last year’s Rugby World Cup.
Japan will face New Zealand Maori in Napier next weekend in their first match on the road.
Fiji face tournament leaders Australia A away in Brisbane.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Taiwan suffered its first defeat of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12, losing to defending champion Japan 3-1 at the Taipei Dome last night. Japan’s victory put Taiwan’s score at two wins and one loss in WBSC Premier12 championship Group B play. In the top of the first inning, a sacrifice fly from Japanese batter Shota Morishita allowed Masayuki Kuwahara to score a run on Taiwan’s starter Chen Po-ching (陳柏清). Taiwan’s attempt to catch up in the bottom of the first ended to no avail and an uneventful second inning saw the score
RSS