Georgia make Fiji battle to the end

FRANK Lomani came off the bench to fire flat Fiji and take them to within a point of a likely quarter-final against England, but they nearly lost it at the death as Georgia remained defiant to the end. 

- PAUL REES

A feature of the game had been Georgia’s inability to turn breaks into tries and they had nothing to show from 10 visits to Fiji’s 22. With time up, they had a final chance having just kicked a penalty with a break down the left but instead of keeping the ball in hand Gela Aprasidze kicked to the line and full-back Ilaisa Droasese gratefully kicked the ball dead under pressure from Luka Matkava.

Fiji’s players flopped to the ground in exhaustion. An expected stroll against a side that had failed to turn up against Australia and Portugal turned into a slog with the Georgians fighting for every scrap of possession and, led by outside-half Matkava who made 15 tackles, tackling with relish.

Fiji struggled to find a response. They trailed 9-0 at the interval having shown, like Georgia against Portugal the previous week, a discomfort when being expected to win rather than being tagged as underdogs. Having to make the running, they lacked shape and leadership and expectation quickly disintegrated into hope.