BORDEAUX, France (AP) — Fiji avoided a mega shock at the Rugby World Cup by coming back from 9-0 down with half an hour to play to beat Georgia 17-12 on Saturday.
Captain Waisea Nayacalevu began the Fijian fightback with a 51st-minute try deftly finished with inches to spare in the left corner. Replacement Vinaya Habosi finally subdued the Georgians when he burst onto an offload from flanker Levani Botia with 12 minutes to go to make it 17-9.
Georgia still had enough in the tank to kick a very late penalty and chase what would have been a scinitillating victory right at the death, when replacement Gela Aprasidze’s breakout and kick ahead was desperately snuffed out by Fiji fullback Ilaisa Droasese. Droasese chased back, hoofed the ball over the dead ball line and collapsed in exhaustion, as did pretty much everyone else on the field.
The result was still a surprise of sorts after Fiji was expected to fly through the game in Bordeaux with a winning bonus point to qualify for the quarterfinals for the first time since 2007. That didn’t happen and the win with no bonus point means Fiji has to wait until next weekend to seal its place in the knockout stage in its final Pool C game against another underdog, Portugal. The result also kept alive Australia’s slim hopes.
Georgia’s early lead came from three first-half penalties, one from flyhalf Luka Matkava and two long-range shots by winger Davit Niniashvili.
Despite losing two players very early to injury, the Georgians were heroic in defence in the face of waves of Fijian attacks at points and came close to what would have been their most famous victory at a World Cup.
Nayacalevu’s try — while Fiji was down to 14 men with wing Semi Radradra in the sin-bin — saw the persistent Fijians finally start to get reward for their adventure.
Habosi made it safe when a ball was shovelled down the Fijian backline, with one pass through the legs, before Botia burst through to carry deep into the Georgia 22. He flicked the ball up as four Georgians tackled him and Habosi was on his shoulder and away to score with a flying dive.
Fiji finished with 14 men after centre Josua Tuisova was shown a yellow card for a head-on-head clash attempting to tackle Georgia fullback Miriani Modebadze in the final, chaotic moments, with Modebadze changing direction suddenly to contribute to the collision.
Earlier, Argentina kept its hopes of a spot in the quarterfinals alive with a 59-5 victory over fellow South Americans Chile. The victory means that whoever wins next Sunday’s clash with Japan will move on.
