Aussies hit back to shock Fiji, Tonga lose again

AUSTRALIA A bounced back from last week’s defeat to Samoa to shock Fiji with an impressive 3218 win at Churchill Park.

The Australians took a 15-13 lead into half-time after tries from Dylan Pietsch and Hugh Sinclair cancelled out efforts from Seta Tamanivalu and Levani Botia.

Api Ratuniyarawa scored Fiji’s third before replacement Aussie lock Jeremy Williams charged down Ben Volavola’s kick to open up a 29-18 lead.

Brumbies scrum-half Ryan Lonergan made sure of the result as he kicked a penalty.

“We fronted up today, we knew we had to, Fiji are a really physical side and the forwards were outstanding in that first half and they set the platform for us,” Lonergan said.

“I think we managed the game pretty well. It was obviously quite hot out here and we played territory pretty well today.”

Australia A will now play Tonga next week, who without Israel Folau suffered their second straight loss to start the campaign, against Samoa.

Hooker Ray Niuia scored three tries from line-out drives as Samoa rallied from 18-3 down in the first half to win 34-18 and stay unbeaten after two rounds.

Centre Fetuli Paea and lock Veikoso Poloniati both scored early tries for Tonga before Niuia scored the first of his hat-trick just before half-time as Samoa found a foothold in the match through their lineout dominance.

The powerful hooker scored again in the 45th and 52nd minutes, while Tonga were down to 14 men with Poloniati in the sin-bin.

An intercept try on debut from centre Tumua Manu put Samoa clear and back rower Theo McFarland completed a five-try turnaround with a score in the 76th minute.

“Full credit to Tonga. When we previewed them we knew exactly what they were going to come with in the first 20,” Samoa captain Michael Ala’alatoa said. “We were too slow out of the box and we let them get their game going.

“Credit to our boys. We went back to our set piece as our set piece was working well for us and we got our momentum back.”