The Wallabies have started their World Cup campaign with a win 39-21 over Fiji which looks comfortable on the scoreboard but has left Michael Cheika and his team with plenty of questions.
Australia were shaky early on in the match and went down by nine in the opening minutes of the second half, but a disciplined and patient final half-hour, highlighted by dominance in possession and territory – and the rolling maul and scrum – allowed Cheika’s men to leave the Sapporo Dome with a bonus-point win.
Fiji enjoyed a far better start to the game despite fumbling their way through the opening kick-off receipt. A penalty inside the first five minutes allowed Ben Volavola to pick up the first three points from the tee, before Peceli Yato broke down the right to cross for a try.
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With Fiji’s big forwards dominating the contact zone and disrupting the Wallabies attack, captain Michael Hooper was able to get Australia on the board thanks to a superb effort to muscle his way over the line.
That had brought the game back to a one-point margin, but the Flying Fijians had the best of the action for the next fifteen minutes and extended their lead thanks to two more Volavola penalties.
The Wallabies finally put together some good phase play in the closing minutes of the half, and after turning down a chance for three points and opting to kick for touch, some patient build-up allowed Reece Hodge to cross in the corner for a deserved try.
The second half, though, started about as badly as possible, a botched midfield play from the Wallabies gift-wrapping a breakaway try for Waisea Nayacalevu next to the posts. Aftter Volavola’s ensuing conversion, Fiji led 21-12.
Australia started to control the game far better after conceding. Reece Hodge made easy work of a penalty from right in front, before a series of rolling mauls led to a pair of Tolu Latu tries interspersed by a yellow card to Levani Botia for repeated infringements.
That sin-binning was crucial, with Samu Kerevi adding a second five-pointer while Fiji were down a man to seal the game for Australia, while Marika Koroibete added one more try shortly after.
While there were some positive performances from the Wallabies – Hodge and Hooper were strong in the face of Fiji’s first-half onslaught, Kerevi provided a number of strong runs and Will Genia was excellent after replacing Nic White with half an hour to go – Cheika will be concerned by the way his side was outmuscled in the contact zone early.
A lack of accuracy from the tee, too, will be a worry. Christian Lealiifano, Matt To’omua and Hodge shared kicking duties and each missed an attempt – two of them relatively straightforward chances.
The six-try performance gives Australia a bonus-point win ahead of their massive clash against Wales next weekend, a match which will likely decide who progresses from Pool B in top spot – thus avoiding a likely quarter-final against England.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
He favoured Australia big time.
Bing
Guest
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12269936
Bing
Guest
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12269936 Not a good look. Referees should never do this. It shows clear favouritism I seriously don’t want any kiwi official anywhere near the WBs for the rest of the WC. This referee cannot be trusted.
Sydney Slug
Roar Rookie
At their lowest point they had not put the highest score ever on the ABs only 6 weeks ago or am I missing something?
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
Yeah I think we got our players crossed over.
Bourkos
Roar Rookie
Oh Beale was relatively useless no rebuttal there
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
Beale
Sinclair Whitbourne
Roar Rookie
Yes, I thought Speight a little unlucky as he had one of his best defensive seasons in a while.
Bourkos
Roar Rookie
Wait are you talking about Beale or Hodge? Hodge did well with ball in hand imo
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
He struggled a bit with ball in hand as well though, didn't have the power to go forward in the tackle so lost ground more than once, especially early.
Bourkos
Roar Rookie
I think CLL was given no space by his forwards and was also running injured for a lot of the game
Bourkos
Roar Rookie
What about Speight.....pace, decision making and can tackle
Bourkos
Roar Rookie
That was a 110kg winger at pace coming at him. He did bloody well to hold his ground except on one occasion
Bourkos
Roar Rookie
I feel that lineout throwing is now a joke. Teams can very obviously favour their own side which doesn't make it an even contest
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
There you go. Could have really cost us.
Short Arm
Roar Rookie
I'll have to look at it again, but when the backs started to do better was JOC in closer?
Keilidh
Roar Rookie
They’re complex and open to the refs interpretation, no way are you going to get consistency between refs, as you say, the best you can hope for is the ref to be consistent during games and game to game. Research the ref and play to their interpretations.
Sinclair Whitbourne
Roar Rookie
I think the inside backs looked flustered and execution was off because key ball carriers weren't doing well enough in contact during the first half. The odd game plan (if it was the game plan) of going wide early didn't help; or was it an off the cuff reaction to poor quality ball? Once the forwards started to work hard and do the set up work the backs did better but I still feel the pack lacks dynamic, accurate ball carriers and it lacks effectiveness at breakdown due to the structure the side uses and some of the selections.
Sinclair Whitbourne
Roar Rookie
I think Banks should be in the squad as he is undeniably a talent and he has a relatively rare ingredient for Oz - speed. My view is that his technique around tackling (including how he gets positioned and his decision making) are not quite where they need to be at this level. However, that should not be hard to improve and he brings a lot of other important attributes that are core to a back 3 position - he is good under the high ball, has a sound positional game, kicks well from hand (with a booming punt a bonus), makes good decisions about when and where to come into attack, is elusive and has pace. One might argue he would have been no more roadkill than Beale and Hodge were in the tackle but Big Dave does have a point.
Lara
Guest
A dog fight in the beginning, but the Wallabies did enough. The forwards rolling maul n scrum dominance were the telling points against Fiji , who have never been strong in these areas of the game. Against more traditional teams these weapons may not be enough . Fiji hard running backs caused all sort of issues for the Wallabies midfield n that would have been noted by other teams. Looking good for the Quarters.