Swire Shipping Fiji Warriors go down to Uruguay 29-10

The Swire Shipping Fiji Warriors suffered their first 29-10 loss against hosts Uruguay at their first World Rugby Nations Cup match on Sunday.

Los Teros gave themselves an early psychological boost ahead of their Pool D meeting with the full-blown Fiji test side in Pool D at RWC 2019 with a comfortable victory against what is the Pacific island nation’s A team.

Uruguay’s Andrés Vilaseca scored his second double of the year, having touched down twice against Canada back in February, and Felipe Berchesi contributed 16 points with the boot, while all the Warriors’ points came from fellow fly-half Enele Malele.

Swire Shipping Fiji Warriors fly Enele Malele got the scoring underway, converting his own try as Fiji raced into a 7-0 lead. However, Uruguay were soon back on level terms once Berchesi converted Vilaseca’s try. Berchesi and Malele then kicked a penalty apiece and the score stayed at 10-10 up to half-time.

In the second half, Uruguay had it all their own way against a Warriors side that struggled to impose themselves in the Montevideo mud.

With the Islanders visibly tiring as the match wore on discipline became an issue and Berchesi punished any indiscretions with penalties in the 49th, 58th, 65th, and 76th minutes. Then, with the game wrapped up, Vilaseca showed good footballing skills to kick the ball downfield, gather and score, Berchesi adding the conversion for a 29-10 scoreline.

Swire Shipping Fiji Warriors captain, Mesulame Dolokoto, said that they found the game tough, but there were no excuses for their loss.

“It was a good tough encounter with our counterparts Uruguay and we had a lot of opportunities to score and even though the boys gave their best effort, there are no excuses for the loss and credit to Uruguay for giving us a good game today.”

“The boys came into the match knowing that it will be cold and the conditions would be wet and slippery, but as I said there was no excuses for our loss.”

The Swire Shipping Fiji Warriors play their second World Rugby Nations Cup match against Argentina XV on Thursday afternoon.