Canny gameplan beats Fijians

NZ Divisional XV 34 Fiji 25

The cream of the NPC second and third divisions got home on a powerful forward effort, the electric running of Niva Ta'auso and the accurate boot of Tim Manawatu in their tour opener in Suva on Saturday.

Ta'auso, the centre from Counties-Manukau, scored two tries and right wing Manawatu kicked 19 points.

In front of a noisy, partisan crowd and in temperatures approaching 35C, the Divisional team were rocked by an early try to the hosts, but struck back soon afterwards to lead 19-12 at halftime.

Fiji contained some familiar faces in captain and lock Kele Leawere, formerly of East Coast, Otago winger Aisea Tuilevu, Wellington winger Sireli Bobo and Counties-Manukau No 8 Sisa Koyamaibole.

The speedy Bobo scored a blistering 80m try from nowhere, but was otherwise kept in check.

Divisional XV coach Glenn Moore said he was pleased with the way his side had come together after assembling only last week.

"We structured a gameplan around what we thought their weaknesses would be and the guys really bought into it and made it work.

"We wanted to use the short side a lot and we'd done quite a bit of work on our set pieces and our defence.

"We managed to put them under a lot of pressure and frustrated them into turnovers and scored some good tries."

Moore praised his tight five, who asserted some early scrum dominance, with Hawkes Bay loosehead Clint Newlands and Nelson Bays tighthead Gavin Briggs prominent against a "monstrous" pack who soon got frustrated.

Hooker Mark Stewart was also a key man and was rewarded with a try.

The Divisional side play twice more on their short tour, against Fiji A in Suva on Wednesday, then the second "test" against Fiji in Lautoka next Saturday.

- NZPA