How the Scots beat us
Sloppy defence and indiscipline by the Fiji Airways Flying Fijians allowed Scotland to run away with a 54-17 win at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh yesterday morning.
Trailing 17-14, Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw said the plan was for their forwards to dominate play and kept pressuring the Fijians into mistakes.
And in the process lock forward, Tevita Cavubati copped a yellow card for foul play and was soon followed by Leone Nakarawa. The Dominiko Waqaniburotu- led side played with 13-men as they defended desperately while the Scots ran in a try before halftime to regain the lead.
“It was really pleasing when we scored just before half time,” Laidlaw said. “Nobody panicked and we scored out to the right and I thought the way we played in the second half, we were very clinical.”
And it was all Scotland in the second spell as they ran in five tries while the Fijians failed to score any points.
A Ben Volavola penalty saw Fiji take an early 3-0 lead before the hosts hit back with two converted tries for a 14-3 lead.
Just when things looked tidy for Scotland, it got messy. A miscommunication at a lineout saw Peceli Yato, the giant of Clermont, took it on and linked with Viliame Mata who drove on under the posts.
Six minutes later, they were at it again. Leone Nakarawa burst through a ruck and when he got a touch lucky with his offload his team made the most of it.
Halfback Frank Lomani took Fiji into Scotland’s territory, Cavubati took Dell to the cleaners in support and found Radradra for the try as they hit the front 17-14. Flying Fijians head coach John McKee in an earlier interview with Herald Scotland said, it has always been a learning process for the team.
“It is not all the flair and the million dollar plays that bring you home; sometimes you just have to control the game at critical moments. For us it is a learning curve all the time.
“It is not talent that wins games, though it is massively helpful in the outcome, it is how we got about our work in the dark areas of the game in rucks and mauls and set piece,” he said.
This Sunday morning (Fiji time) the Flying Fijians take on Uruguay at Hartpury College ground in London before they face France at the Stade de France in Paris on November 24.