Resilient Fiji down Scotland to crash Ford’s party as nation’s most capped player
>> SUVA: A rare try from record-breaking hooker Ross Ford was not enough for Scotland to overhaul Fiji in a thrilling one-off Test in Suva yesterday.
Fiji edged a 27-22 victory, despite Scotland scoring three tries to two, with five penalties for the hosts’ flyhalf Ben Volavola proving decisive.
Ford played his 110th Test for Scotland, overtaking Chris Paterson as their most capped player, and scored only the fifth try of his 13-year international career.
But it was not enough as Scotland failed to build on their shock 24-19 win over Australia last week, letting themselves down with an incredible 30 missed tackles.
After struggling in the set piece against Italy last week, a much-improved Fiji applied early pressure through their line-out only to have two attacks fail through handling errors.
Scotland trailed by 10 in the final 10 minutes but their maul again proved too much for Fiji as Fraser Brown scored their third try.
The Scots mounted one last attack but Fiji managed to shunt wing Tim Visser over the touchline to seal a dramatic win.
In Tokyo, Ireland overpowered Japan 35-13 yesterday to finish with a perfect record in their three-game summer tour.
Joe Schmidt’s second-string side looked on course to rack up 50 points for the third successive match as they ran in four first-half tries in Tokyo.
The signs were ominous for Japan’s “Brave Blossoms” when Gary Ringrose scored under the posts and flanker Josh van der Flier wriggled over in the corner in the first 10 minutes.
Bulldozing tries from Kieran Marmion and stand-in skipper Rhys Ruddock further stretched the lead for Ireland, the bulk of whose regular players are on British and Irish Lions duty in New Zealand.
Japan’s sole glimmer of hope had been Kotaro Matsushima’s fine try on 24 minutes but after trailing 28-8 at half-time, the 2019 World Cup hosts offered significantly more resistance after the interval.
Fly-half Paddy Jackson converted all five tries for Ireland, who crushed Japan 50-22 last weekend.