Wallabies work hard to beat physical Fijians

Australia were made to work overtime to see off a physical Fiji in a bone-jarring Pool D game at the Sapporo Dome on Saturday.

After a first-half scare, the Wallabies stormed home to win comfortably, with Silatolu Latu stealing the show with two of their six tries.

Given the creative flair of both sides, this had the makings of one of the games of the tournament.

Fiji earned their first points after just four minutes, the Australians penalised for not releasing. Ben Volavola converted and Fiji were off and running.

Fiji extended their lead with Peceli Yato finishing off a brilliant backline move in the right-hand corner. Sheer power out wide from wing Josua Tuisova enabled him to beat Reece Hodge and Christian Lealiifano before Yako cruised over.

Yato was a constant thorn in the defence and they had sight of the line again after 12 minutes.

But Australia began getting some momentum from their scrum and it laid the foundations for their opening try in the 18th minute, Michael Hooper shrewdly changing his angle to find the line to score. Lealiifano converted comfortably to cut the deficit further.

However, Australia paid the price for their indiscipline and the Fijians extended their lead through another penalty from Volavola.

The Wallabies must have felt like they were being hit by sledgehammers as the big Fijians kept ramming them time and again.

Another penalty from Volavola in the 27th minute put them 14-7 up but a slick backline movement from the Wallabies in the 36th minute was finished off by Hodge in the right-hand corner. Lealiifano converted to make it 14-12.

Straight after the break, a loose pass from Samu Kerevi was snapped up by Waisea Nayacalevu, who raced from just over halfway to score Fiji's second try. Volavola converted and Fiji were 21-12 ahead.

In the 50th minute, Fiji were penalised at the breakdown and Hodge converted to cut the deficit to six points. Eventually Latu forced his way over from a rolling maul to leave the Wallabies trailing only 21-20 after Hodge missed the conversion.

Fiji, who had Levani Botia yellow-carded, could not stop Latu crossing for his second try from a rolling maul.

The Wallabies gained increasing momentum and Kerevi gave them control of the match in the 69th minute to put them 32-21 ahead with the conversion. Marika Koroibete crossed soon after another slick move to put the result beyond doubt, with Toomua converting to take them to victory at 39-21.