OUR NEW MEN
Barbarians coach Eddie Jones applauds Fiji’s young generation of rugby stars Man of the match Dyer says win good closure to rugby year after poor RWC, NRC results
Rookie first five eight Teti Tela could be the answer to our goalkicking woes. The Queensland Reds player booted over four conversions from the five Fiji Airways Flying Fijians tries that gave them the 33-31 Test win over the Barbarians at Twickenham, London yesterday.
The win was the first after 49 years- the last time the Fijians won against the Barbarians was in 1970 at Gosforth. Former Flying Fijians captain, Mosese Rauluni had highlighted that one contributing factors of our downfall during the recent Rugby World Cup, was a lack of a consistent goalkicker.
The Levuka-born Tela showed that he has what it takes to be our answer to the likes of Handre Pollard of South Africa, Richie Mo’unga of New Zealand, England’s Owen Farrell or Dan Biggar of Wales.
Tela scored 13 points in the win from a try and four conversions. TV commentator and England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson said it was new to see the Fijians winning through kicks.
Tela shared the kicking responsibility with full-back Enele Malele who also had a great game. They are among the 11 debutants in the Fijian line-up.
Even Barbarians coach Eddie Jones admitted that they had lost to a ‘new generation’ Fijian side. “We wanted to win but this new generation Fijian team did not allow it,” he said.
Playing in front of 50,000 fans, Jones said their two disallowed tries were unfortunate as they were caught infringing by the video.
Fijian captain Frank Lomani said they were there supporting each other.
“That was our strength,” the Melbourne Rebels bound halfback said.
Loosie Johnny Dyer was named the Man of the Match as he scored two tries and was superb throughout the whole 80 minutes. “This has not been a good year but the big win is a good way to end the year,” the Macuata native added.
RATINGS
1. Eroni Mawi- Played with a lot of confidence: 7
2. Veremalua Vugakoto- Good all around: 7
3. Samuela Tawake- Scrummed well, good in general play: 7
4. Temo Mayanavanua- Player for the future: 7
5. Sikeli Nabou- Put on a solid performance: 7
6. Mosese Voka- Used his experience well: 8
7. Johnny Dyer- Showed his power and class: 9
8. Eremasi Radrodro-He did what was required of him: 7
9. Frank Lomani: Led from the front and did all that was required of him: 8
10. Teti Tela: Set up play well and was great with his boots: 8
11. Patrick Osborne- Simply showed that he still has got what it takes to be the best: 7
12. Serupepeli Vularika: Small in size but made it up with lots of guts: 7
13. Asaeli Tikoirotuma: Guided the young backline well: 7
14. Jiuta Wainiqolo: Took time to settle down. A star in the making: 7
15. Enele Malele: An intelligent player and uses his options well: 8