Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2024: Six Key Takeaways from Round Three
Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2024 Round Three Updates:
Fiji and Japan maintained their domination in the third round of the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2024, winning handily to guarantee their spots in the semi-finals.
As the Finals Series lineup was announced, Fiji and Japan both finished their Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2024 pool stages flawlessly. In Nuku’alofa, the Flying Fijians had to fight hard before three tries in the second half secured a 50-19 victory over Tonga and first place in Pool A. In the first semi-final in Tokyo on Saturday, Fiji will take on the USA following the Men’s Eagles’ 41-24 loss to Japan at Kumagaya Rugby Stadium.
Japan’s reward for a composed performance is first position in Pool B and a Sunday semifinal matchup with Samoa. At Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tonga will meet Canada in the fifth-place play-off as the Finals Series begins. We go over the six things we discovered during the weekend as the teams get ready for those games.
After putting on a commanding performance, Japan advances to the semi-finals on Sunday, when they will face Samoa in Pool B. At Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tonga will face Canada in the play-off for fifth place in the Finals Series.
Six things we discovered throughout the weekend are summarized below, as the teams get ready for those games.
Japan seems like a team to defeat at home
In sport, there are no guarantees, which is what makes it so captivating. However, Japan appeared arrogant during their first-ever home match this year.
The direction of the game appeared obvious from the moment USA captain Greg Peterson knocked on the first kickoff. However, the hosts’ skill set more than any errors made by the Men’s Eagles was what made this triumph possible.
Center Eddie Jones had enough to be happy about as he celebrated the first home victory of his second tenure in charge. Dylan Riley was perhaps the brightest spark in cherry and white, scoring the best of the Brave Blossoms’ five tries with a slaloming second-half effort.
In the second row, Warner Dearns was once more commanding, and Tiennan Costley had a memorable encounter at blindside. Malo Tuitama kept up his excellent start to his test career in the backs, while Shinobu Fujiwara complemented the shrewd Seungsin Lee in the half-backs.
With the Finals Series scheduled for back-to-back weekends in Tokyo and Osaka, the hosts appear to be clear favorites for the Pacific Nations Cup.
Lee drives Japan forward
The triumph was largely due to the composed presence of fly-half Lee, even though Riley has rightfully taken center stage after a magnificent performance against the USA.
In the fourteenth minute, Lee’s clever chip over the American defense found the raging Riley, whose skillful offload set up his center partner Nicholas McCurran’s initial try.
Lee’s penalty had already started the scoreboard at Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, and his unflappable accuracy with the tee was essential. The fly-half converted all seven of his shots on goal, finishing with 16 points for the game.
Additionally, he kicked 482 meters in open play, which is more than three times as far as his opponent Luke Carty. This allowed Japan to play for much of the match in the appropriate parts of the pitch.
opponents in the semifinals Samoa will be aware that they need to find a method to upset Japan’s unflappable number 10 in order to succeed on Sunday.
Augspurger shines for the United States
As the USA team gets ready to play Fiji on Saturday, coach Scott Lawrence can still find positives in several elements of his team’s performance despite their loss.
The Men’s Eagles gained some momentum when they brought in replacement Moni Tongahuia in the second half, and it was no accident that they made a comeback threat when the flanker was on the field.
The man that took advantage of the situation was Nate Augspurger, who scored two tries in the final seven minutes of the second half.
The attempts demonstrated Augspurger’s capacity to finish as well as his work rate and aptitude for spotting opportunities before they arise. Perhaps surprisingly, he started out as a scrum-half in his international career.
Why should Fijians be worried?
Coach Mick Byrne of Fiji had much to be happy about in Nuku’alofa, as his team won Pool A with plenty of room to spare.
The Flying Fijians secured a try-scoring bonus point at the end of the half, needing just one match point to guarantee their spot in the semi-finals. In the second half, they scored 24 more points without a response, sealing a convincing victory.
Despite this, Byrne’s coaching staff may still be concerned about how they let Tonga a possible way back into the game during the second quarter of the game.
With just ten minutes remaining, Fiji had demonstrated their dominance in the first few encounters, scoring three goals in three tries and providing their hosts with little more than scraps to survive on. But as soon as Adrea Cocagi received a red card, everything changed.
Fiji was down to 14 players for 20 minutes, and during that time, they were unable to handle Tonga’s numerical advantage, allowing a 19-0 lead to be lost. It didn’t really matter in the end because they quickly recovered to lead when they were back up to 15, but they will still need to address this issue before the semi-finals.
Fiji’s future is here
Positively speaking, those in white gave some really significant performances at Teufaiva Stadium.
Tevita Ikanivere, the hooker, played a fantastic second match as captain. Less than five minutes in, the talented hooker weaved his way through the Tongan defense to score his team’s second try. It appears that the additional burden does not weigh hard on him.
Olympic hero Iosefo Baleiwairiki was at his commanding best in the midfield as he finished with two tries to top off an outstanding all-around effort.
Baleiwairiki broke through three tackles and made two linebreaks en route to scoring Fiji’s first and seventh tries in Nuku’alofa. Baleiwairiki finished the game with 173 metres gained from 15 carries.
It was a performance that gave Philip Bendon of RugbyPass reason to believe that Fiji may have identified Waisea Nayacalevu’s long-term replacement in the number 13 shirt.
Pellegrini, Inisi give Tonga hope
Not everything went wrong for the hosts in Tonga. Though it was difficult for the majority of the competition, ‘Ikale Tahi did not in any way dishonor themselves.
For instance, Lotu Inisi, who finished the game with 10 carries and 12 tackles, showed off his Super Rugby Pacific form during the test phase. He also made contributions on both sides of the ball in Nuku’alofa.
Regarding Inisi, the only unexpected thing was that he wasn’t Tonga’s standout performer of the day. Patrick Pellegrini, the fly-half, won that honor.
After a challenging afternoon against Samoa in the second round, Coventry’s playmaker Pellegrini was back to his brilliant best last Friday, combining skillful kicks to provide a brace of assists as his confidence surged.
Tonga should take heart from the fact that they were still in the game heading into the last ten minutes as they get ready to take on Canada in this Saturday’s fifth-place play-off.
