U20 Trophy gets off to a thrilling start

Fiji conjured up three late tries to beat Uruguay 38-34 and gain revenge for their narrow loss to Los Teritos in last year’s Trophy.

At 28-14 up with less than a quarter of the match to go, Uruguay looked destined for victory, even with six points awarded for a try, but diminutive Fijian fly-half Jone Manu produced a couple of moments of magic to turn the game on its head and send the Fijians into raptures.

The Uruguayans will be kicking themselves at letting a game they’d been in control of for long periods slip from their grasp.

A penalty from Felipe Etcheverry, brother of Rugby World Cup player Jeronimo, put the South Americans in front with three minutes on the clock.

But Fiji hit back with two tries in the space of six minutes, flanker Kitione Kamikamica getting the first from a smart lineout move with the second for winger Viliame Tuidrak coming in more traditional Fijian fashion, via a couple of offloads.

Uruguay belied the loss of centre Inaki Ormaechea to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle to end the half strongly.

They spent the best part of the final 10 minutes camped on the Fijian line and the pressure told with Fiji conceding two tries and losing two men to yellow cards in the process.

Uruguay were awarded a penalty try when centre Tomas Inciarte was taken out off the ball by Filimoni Savou while attempting to chase his grubber kick into the in-goal area, which denied Fiji of their captain for 10 minutes, meaning the young Islanders finished the half down to 13 men as flanker Serupepeli Uru had already seen yellow.

Livewire scrum-half Santiago Arata rubbed salt into the Fijian wounds when he sniped over from close range to hand Los Teritos a half-time lead of 16-14.

All the momentum continued to be with Uruguay after the restart and they were pressing for a further score when Fiji won turnover ball inside their 22 and Wame Naituvi raced downfield. Arata, however, showed great determination – and no little pace – to track back and bring the winger to ground 15 metres out.

Los Teritos’ dominance of territory and possession was finally turned into points when Guillermo Williamson went over in the corner after receiving a flat pass from Etcheverry.

Shortly after having a superb team ‘try’ chalked off for a forward pass, there was no stopping Uruguay openside flanker Matias Brignoni as he drove over to make the score 28-14 to Uruguay with 67 minutes gone.

Then came the Fijian fight-back with 24 points scored without reply. Manu pick-pocketed his way through the middle of the Uruguayan defence with some lovely footwork before finding replacement prop, Wame Waqanaceva, up in support. Five minutes later, Manu went all the way himself and Fiji reclaimed the lead following Jone Naqoru’s conversion.

Naituvi ran virtually the length of the field to score Fiji’s fifth try. The conversion put Fiji 38-28 up with time almost up.

Shell-shocked Uruguay threw everything they had at Fiji and a fierce forward onslaught resulted in a try with the last play of the game for replacement Mike Johnson.

(Source: http://www.worldrugby.org)