A first half double from departing Panthers forward Viliame Kikau and a second half double from Eels winger Maika Sivo has paved the way for a dominant Fiji to secure their first victory of this year’s World Cup with a 60-4 win over Italy.
After going down against Australia in their opening game of the World Cup, the Bati raced out of the blocks against the Azzurri with three tries in the opening 15 minutes paving the way for one of Fiji’s biggest ever wins on the international stage.
Kikau was one of many who shone in the first half blitz by Fiji, bagging his first international double since 2019, while young fullback Sunia Turuva continued to show his bright future with a number of impressive touches.
The result puts Fiji in the box seat for a spot in the knockout rounds, with Joe Dakuitoga’s side needing to defeat Scotland to progress through to the quarterfinals should Australia do the job as expected against Italy in the other pool match.
Having gone into the match with plenty of confidence after their opening round win over Scotland, Italy were made to pay for an ill-disciplined start to the contest with errors directly leading to points for all of Fiji’s first three tries.
A dropped bomb from Brandon Wakeham allowed Kikau to open the scoring after eight minutes before an error from dummy half moments later allowed captain Kevin Naiqama to scoop up a loose pass and run 50 metres to double the Bati’s lead.
Penioni Tagituimua made it three tries in six minutes for Fiji when he crossed from dummy half in the 14th minute after Jake Maizen was taken into touch, before Kikau grabbed a second shortly after to blow the scoreline out to 24-0.
Such was Fiji’s dominance that Italy only recorded their first play-the-ball in their opponents’ 20-metre line in the 31st minute — an attack that was quickly nullified by the defensive work of Turuva in dealing with a kick in behind.
Another departing Panther in Apisai Koroisau made it 30-0 just before the break as a sustained spell of pressure led to more points from Fiji, before turning provider early in the second half to set up tries for both Tagituimua and Ben Nakubuwai.
Jake Maizen gave Italian fans something to cheer about when he showed good awareness to narrowly ground the ball in the in-goal in the 55th minute, with his fourth try of this year’s World Cup eventually putting the Azzurri on the board.
However, Fiji quickly returned to normal service shortly after, with Kikau and Sivo continuing to cause havoc on the left wing as the Eels winger secured his second try of the game after a delightful late offload from the forward.
After registering four direct try involvements, Kikau was given an early mark with the result all but confirmed — smiling alongside five-eighth Brandon Wakeham on the sidelines for the final 20 minutes as Taniela Sadrugu’s late effort ensured Fiji would run out comfortable winners in the end.
Source: NRL.com