Rugby World Cup Blog | Jonah Lomu | 2007

Fiji march on

Sun Sep 30 04:31PM

Today was a quiet day for me which is something I haven't had since arriving in France a month ago. I have had a great month but it's been pretty hectic working with Eurosport and Yahoo!, ambassadorial work with adidas and EDF, speaking engagements, columns, rugby visits, interviews, dinners and travelling; you name it I've been doing it. To grab a quiet day was great and to top it off I could enjoy some great rugby at the same time.

The first game of the day was New Zealand v Romania; this match was always destined to be a whitewash. The game started as expected but the points did not come easily. The Romanians weren't handing the win to New Zealand they made them work for it. The arrival off the bench in the 57th minute made a considerable impact on the side with Richie McCaw demonstrating again why he is the best number seven in the World and why I think he is one of the stars of this World Cup. He settled things down, took control of the game and dominated at the break down. It made a big difference to the All Black side.

The Romanians played with heart and with passion. They were very physical and produced solid forward play. They should be commended for their efforts coming into this game having played Portugal just four days earlier. It's a tough ask meeting the All Blacks with a week of preparation let alone four days. Their single try from Marius Tincu was a deserving end to their strong piece of forward play.

It was not a polished performance from the All Blacks although they put away 13 tries and amassed 85 points. Having scored 46 tries in the pool phase you'd have to say you're happy but I know Graham and he will be seeking perfection from the guys, he has admitted there are a number of things that need to be addressed. Coming into the quarters without having come up against any real competition is a concern.

The second game of the day gave us another win to the Aussies who finish top of their pool. The game played in atrocious weather in Bordeaux was their last before heading into the quarters against England. The Australians fielded a second string team indicating their thoughts that the game would be an easy win. It wasn't ever going to be an upset but the Canadians didn't make it easy for them. It took the Australians more than 20 minutes to score their first try and almost 60 minutes to take control of the game.  There were some moments of great play, Lote Tuquiri played well and a beautiful cross kick from Julian Huxley produced the first of two tries for Mitchell whose World cup tally now stands at seven. The final score means the end for Canada, a World Cup where I'm sure they're disappointed in not having won a single pool game. They can however take pride out of today's game where they gave it there all.

The Wales-Fiji match was fantastic, the game went back and forth for the 80 minutes. It was nailbiting until the final whistle, what a game! The teams proved to be evenly matched in the first-half but the Fijians capitalised on the Welsh mistakes with the natural Fijian flair shining through.  At one stage it was 25-3 to Fiji and the Welsh looked shellshocked. The Welsh bought it back to 25-10 through some brilliant play by Shane Williams who scored a great individual try showing how light and quick he is on his feet. I give him a solid eight for his swan dive finish!

The Welsh ran rampant in the second half scoring three tries in 15 minutes and turning their deficit against Fiji into a lead in the 50th minute, taking full advantage of playing against 14 men. It looked as though the game had changed and swung more favourably towards the Welsh as they took the game in hand but it was only for a moment.  Fiji were still in striking distance when their 15th man returned and they piled on the pressure again taking the lead once more at 31–29. In the last 15 minutes you could see the Fijians had belief that they could win this game. Players like Rabeni and Delasau were creating havoc whenever they touched the ball, challenging the Welsh defence and getting over the advantage line to give their team the go forward momentum that they needed. The final minutes of the match saw the Fijians surge towards the Welsh line creating a maul followed by a break by Delasau who was stopped just short by Martin Williams. With quick ball the Fijians crossed the line to take the win and to confirm their position in the quarter-finals against South Africa.

This game was rugby at its best, both teams playing free flowing innovative rugby, with passion, heart and determination everything that constitutes a great match. I have to say that this would be one of Fiji's finest hours in rugby so it was very unfortunate to see a player of the calibre of Nicky Little who contributed so much to the game being stretchered off with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

The last match of the day Scotland v Italy did not disappoint. It was a fiercely intense match with both sides having so much to play for. The first-half was tight with very strong defensive play from each side. Both teams really pushed the offside rule to the limit and aggression at the rucks was prominent. The Italians gave away a few unnecessary penalties with some undesirable tackling techniques which gave away points. The score going into the second half was 12-10 with all of Scotland's points coming from Chris Paterson's boot and the Italians coming from a great try by Troncon. Troncon is a great player who has achieved more than 100 caps for Italy, something you don't see too often these days. 

The second-half could not have been tighter and the win was in the air for the Italians.  However they made some poor individual decisions which made their jobs so much harder.  They gave it there all but the Italians let themselves down and I know they'll be feeling incredibly disappointed. There were times especially in the last 15 minutes when they had possession and they kicked it away even when they were in the attacking zone and in my opinion that cost them the game. Scotland played the last ten minutes defensively, continuing to suck in the ball and keep it tight. They played very simple basic rugby and it gave them the win and it reminded me of what England did to Tonga. Congratulations to Scotland for making the quarter-finals.

LIKES: Watching Fiji get in for what was the big upset of the tournament. Congratulations Fiji…. Bula!!

LIKES:  Seeing Romania playing with such heart and passion and being rewarded with a deserving try.

DISLIKES: Not all the teams getting even odds with the draw, with some of the minnows having to play three games in 11 days. It's a tough turn around to put forward the best prepared performance with those timelines.

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