BURNABY, B.C. — Three minutes was all Fiji needed to deliver a knockout blow in the Pacific Nations Cup final
Kini Murimurivalu and Malakai Ravulo scored back-to-back tries in the second half moments after surrendering the lead Monday as Fiji beat Samoa 39-29 to capture the six-team rugby tournament.
"It was difficult. We put our hands up to Samoa," said Fijian captain Akapusi Qera. "They came out firing. They wanted to win and we managed to get some tactics right. In the second half we pulled it off."
Leone Nakarawa had two tries of his own for Fiji, ranked 10th in the world, while Nikola Matawalu added another. Joshua Matavesi booted a penalty and four conversions. Substitute Ben Volavola kicked another penalty for the Fijians, who finished the tournament undefeated with a 3-0-1 record.
"We've been working on our second-half performance. We tend to lose in the second half. The boys pulled it off," said Qera. "We knew Samoa wanted to win this badly ... we wanted the win more than them."
Faatoina Autagavaia scored two tries for No. 9 Samoa (2-1-1), while Jack Lam had another. Michael Stanley booted four penalties and a conversion.
The countries tied 30-30 earlier in the tournament that was being used as preparation for next month's Rugby World Cup, and there wasn't much to choose between the South Pacific rivals for long stretches of this one either.
"It was quite a tight game, but that's just how rugby goes. A few mistakes here and there let the Fijians in," said Samoan scrum half Kahn Fotualii. "We missed a few tackles and the way the Fijians play, they can score from anywhere."
No. 12 Tonga beat No 13. Japan 31-20 in the third-place game, while No. 16 United States downed No. 18 Canada 15-13 for fifth.
Down 17-9 at halftime in the final, Samoa came out with more intensity after the break, with Lam going over for a try in the 43rd minute that Stanley converted to cut Fiji's edge to 17-16.
Samoa then took the lead five minutes later when Autagavaia scored on an incredible run to make it 21-17 after the conversion was missed. But Fiji came right back with Nakarawa's second try of the day in the 51st that made it 22-21 after another missed conversion.
The back-and-forth continued in the 55th minute, with Stanley hitting on a penalty to make it 24-22 for Samoa.
Fiji finally took over in the 59th when Murimurivalu went over on another impressive move to make it 29-22 and added to the lead when Ravulo scored his try after Matawalu's run in the 62nd. Matavesi's conversion made it 36-24.
Autagavaia scored his second try of the match for Samoa in the 69th minute to cut the deficit to seven after the conversion was missed. But Fiji put the game out of reach in the 77th with a Volavola penalty that made it 39-29.
"We knew that Samoa would come out firing after the first game that we drew and we were ready for it," said Qera. "We expected that. We knew they would come back firing for the whole 80 minutes."
Halani Aulika, Fetu'u Vainikolo and Sonatane Takulua had the tries for the Tongans (3-1-0) in the third-place game, while Kurt Morath added two conversions and four penalties. Hendrik Tui had the only try for the Japanese (1-3-0), who got five penalties from Ayumu Goromaru.
AJ MacGinty scored a late drop goal to go along with four penalties in the first half to lead the Americans (2-2-0) to fifth place. Nick Blevins scored the game's only try for winless Canada, while Liam Underwood booted two penalties and a conversion.
"We weren't urgent enough in the first half. They turned the ball over on us a few times," said Canadian head coach Kieran Crowley. "We just weren't good enough. They had three yellow cards and we didn't capitalize on it. Pretty disappointing."
