Tonga U20s draw with Fiji U20s [1]
Friday, December 1, 2017 - 13:31. Updated on Thursday, January 4, 2018 - 16:24.
The Tonga Under-20s team drew with the Fiji Under-20s team on Saturday 25 November in the Fijian capital Suva. The score was level 15 – 15 to the disappointment of the home crowd, with the Fiji U20s highly favoured to win the game.
The Tonga U20s did not score a try in the match, Fly-half Nautu’a Masima scored all of Tonga’s points, converting five penalty goals.
Tonga U20s led 6 – 0 throughout most of the first half before Fiji scored two quick tries to gain the lead 6 – 12.
Masima converted a penalty just before half-time to close the gap to 9 – 12.
In the second half, Tonga U20s prevented Fiji from scoring any more tries and successfully forced penalties on the Fijians. Masima slotted two converted penalties early in the second half to regain Tonga’s lead at 15 – 12. It was until the 70th minute did Fiji finally respond, converting a penalty to level the score 15 – 15.
The Tonga U20s will play Fiji U20s tomorrow 2 December to decide the winner of the Oceania Rugby Trophy, being contested between Tonga and Fiji.
Tongan Coach Ta’one Bloomfield was satisfied with the draw but stated in an Oceania Rugby media release that Tonga-U20s needed improvement to their second match this Saturday. “We’ll still need to work on Saturday’s game and hopefully we will come with a good result,” he said.