Australia came out on top against Fiji their opening Rugby World Cup match this morning, winning 39-21 after being behind for the majority of the game.
The Aussies only took the lead in the 61st minute as the Flying Fijians gave them a real scare in Pool D. In the end the Wallabies ended up with six tries and what could be a crucial bonus point.
There was end to end stuff in the opening exchanges with Fiji taking the lead in the fourth minute through a Ben Volavola penalty. A few minutes on and the Fijians stretched their advantage with Peceli Yato finishing a fine move from the back-line, the conversion was missed but it was 8-0 to Fiji.
After 18 minutes the Wallabies hit back through captain Michael Hooper, who powered over to score a try, which fly-half Christain Leali’ifano converted to put a point between the sides.
Volavola pushed the Fijians further ahead with two well taken penalties to give them a 14-7 lead just after the half-hour mark.
Australia cut the advantage just before half-time with Reece Hodge putting the finishing touch on a nice back-line move, the conversion was missed making it 14-12 to Fiji at the whistle.
The second-half started perfectly for Fiji as centre Waisea Nayacalevu took full advantage of a bouncing ball, racing away for their second try of the game, which was again converted making it 21-12.
A penalty from Hodge and an unconverted try from hooker Silatolu Latu put only a point between them again. However, the tide of the game had changed and a yellow-card to Levia Botia handed the advantage to the Aussies.
They needed no invitation to make their advantage count with Latu going over once more from another line-out maul to give them their first lead of the game at 25-21.
After that the floodgates opened as Samu Kerevi and Marika Koroibete went over for further tries to make the scoreline look more comfortable than the game really was with a 39-21 win.
Fiji will take confidence from their performance and they have Uruguay next on Wednesday, while the Wallabies take on Wales Sunday in what could be the match that decides who wins this pool.
Check Out the Highlights of the Match Below.
