Fiji beats Japan 33-27 to win the Pacific Nations Cup for the 6th time

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Fiji scored five tries in a 20-minute spell on either side of halftime, then held on to beat Japan 33-27 Saturday in the final of the Pacific Nations Cup.

Japan started and finished strongly, scoring first and adding the last 17 points of the match. But in between Fiji produced a series of spectacular tries to build a 33-10 lead which only just survived Japan's late comeback.

Two of those tries went to winger Joji Nasova, who scored just before and just after halftime while lock Mesake Vocevoce scored one try and helped to create another. Captain Tevita Ikanivere also scored in the period between the 23rd and 43rd minutes when Fiji took the game away from Japan.

Fiji was hard-pressed to hold on in the second half against a resurgent Japan team which scored tries through hooker Heyate Era — his second of the match — and fullback Ichigo Nakakuso to close the margin to six points.

Japan had Fiji under enormous pressure when it was reduced to 13 men in the second half with backrower Viliame Mata and prop Eroni Mawa in the sin-bin.

“We overcame a tough Japan team who came back in the second half because of the pace they brought and the ill-discipline we had,” Ikanivere said. “We saw the 13 boys who were on the field, the 14 boys just working hard for each other.

“We talked all five weeks of this competition about plowing the field and coming to harvest today.”

All of Japan's tries were spectacular but perhaps the best of all was finished by center Inia Tabuavou in the 35th minute. It began inside the Fiji 22 with a deft behind-the-back pass to scrumhalf Simione Kuruvoli who broke out and was joined by Vocevoce.

Fiji took the ball almost the length of the field and then from one side of the field to the other before Tabuavou scored.

“We're a bit disappointed," Japan captain Warner Dearns said. “We probably let them get away from us a little bit in the first half and we couldn't bring it back in the second."

Fiji won the Pacific Nations Cup for the second year in a row and for the sixth time overall. The final was played in the United States for the first time, at America First Field near Salt Lake City.

Tonga beat Canada 35-24 in the playoff for third place.

Earlier, Samoa rallied from 28-5 down at halftime to draw 32-32 with Chile in the first leg of a two-leg Rugby World Cup qualifying series. Chile will host the second leg next weekend.

The loser still has a chance to qualify through a repechage tournament in Dubai in November involving Belgium, Namibia and either Paraguay or Brazil.

Matias Garafulic scored a try in each half for Chile. His second try in the 48th minute gave Chile a 32-13 lead.

Samoa rallied with tries to Latrell Ah Kiong and Alamanda Motuga before Abraham Papali’i's try tied the scores in the 84th minute. Former Wallabies flyhalf Christian Leali'ifano missed a potentially match-winning conversion.

Chile qualified for the 2023 World Cup after beating the United States by a point on aggregate in a two-leg qualifier. Samoa beat Chile in World Cup group play in 2023 in the only previous meeting between the teams.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby