The Flying Fijians began their Pacific Nations Cup title defence with a 24-22 victory over Manu Samoa but coach John McKee was left lamenting a lack of discipline after three players were sent to the sin bin.
Centre Jale Vatubua and captain Akapusi Qera were yellow carded in the first half at ANZ Stadium in Suva although the home side still went into the half-time break leading 17-3, thanks to tries from Kini Murimurivalu, Ben Volavola and Henry Seniloli.
Ben Volavola added a try and two conversions in Fiji's win. Photo: Facebook/Fiji Rugby
Vereniki Goneva extended Fiji's buffer to 21 points early in the second spell before Melani Matavao crossed for Samoa's first try of the match.
Replacement prop Eroni Mawi became the third Fijian player to be shown a yellow card, on test debut no less, with the Manu capitalising on their one man advantage with tries to Jack Lam and Dwayne Polataivaia.
Jack Lam scored as Samoa made a second half comeback. Photo: Facebook/Fiji Rugby
Fiji held on for the win but coach John McKee said their lack of discipline was not good enough.
"I'm disappointed with that. It's something that we constantly talk about and point these things out because we can't expect to win the really big games when you're giving away unnecessary penalties and we're still getting yellow cards," he said.
"If we were playing a tier one nation (on Saturday) and we had three people in the sin-bin over the course of a game you wouldn't expect to win the game."
'Ikale Tahi rue missed opportunities
Tonga rugby coach Toutai Kefu says a lack of execution proved costly in their 16-15 Pacific Nations Cup defeat against Georgia.
Soso Matiashvili scored all the points for the Lelos, including a stunning solo try from inside their own 22, as the Europeans led 13-3 at half-time.
A strong push allowed front-rower David Lolohea to score on test debut with nine minutes remaining before David Halaifonua dotted down in the left-hand corner to give the 'Ikale Tahi a small opening with a minute to play.
But Toutai Kefu said, ultimately, they were guilty of failing to convert opportunities into points.
"I thought we were a chance, especially when we still had that one possession to play off the kickoff," he said.
"But we created a lot of opportunities - we didn't take them all or execute them all.
We have a goal of executing 50 percent of all the opportunities and I don't think we got nowhere near that."
The Pacific Nations Cup wraps up this weekend with Tonga taking on Samoa and Fiji up against Georgia in a match that doubles as a winner-takes all title decider.
Photo: Bruce Southwick / Zoomfiji
