Australia open Rugby World Cup campaign with win over Fiji
Last Updated: 24/09/15 8:03am
Australia got their Rugby World Cup campaign under way with a 28-13 win over Fiji at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday.
Two tries from David Pocock as well as a second-half effort from Sekope Kepu gave the Wallabies an insurmountable lead, but Michael Cheika's side were unable to score the all-important fourth try that would have earned them a bonus point.
It was the first run-out in the 2015 World Cup for the Wallabies, who were dominant for large periods of the game, but handling errors cost them tries that would have taken the game away from Fiji early on.
As a result they were forced to tackle until the 80th minute, as the fatigued Fijians tried to get themselves back into the game.
The handling errors will worry Cheika, but as their next match is against Uruguay on Sunday, his side still has time to fix their errors before facing England and Wales.
Australia opened the scoring through the boot of Bernard Foley, after the Fijians attempted to run the ball out of their own 22 and handed the Wallabies the perfect opportunity to score. In fact there could easily have been a try, but Foley's pass to Horne with the line in front of him did not go to hand.
Fiji then put their opponents under pressure, forcing a penalty from which they kicked for touch. They were unable to score but Australia infringed at the driving maul, and Nemani Nadolo stepped up to level the scores.
Australia then scored a try after setting up a lineout deep in the opposition half. The ball made its way to David Pocock, who crashed over for his first of the night.
Pocock added another, a carbon copy of the first, four minutes later, and despite missing the conversion Australia were sitting on a healthy 15-3 lead after 31 minutes.
Foley added another penalty on the stroke of half-time, and Fiji lost a player to the bin when Campese Ma'afu was shown a yellow card for a professional foul.
The Wallabies came out firing after the break, with Kepu receiving a pass in the midfield and crashing through a gap to give the Aussies a 25-3 lead with just 44 minutes on the board.
The Australians tried hard to score a fourth, but they were unable to unlock the spirited Fijian defence, and passes continued to be put to ground at crucial moments on attack.
It was Fiji who scored next, with Nadolo slotting over a penalty to slightly narrow the deficit before Ben Volavola breathed life into the game when he sidestepped in between the two Australian locks to race for the line, where he dotted down despite attention from two defenders.
After 60 minutes it was 25-13, and it was Fiji who appeared the more energetic, despite playing just five days ago at Twickenham.
Foley added another penalty with 10 minutes to go, but shortly thereafter Australia lost Tevita Kuridrani to the sin bin when he played the ball in a ruck after repeated team warnings from the referee.
The extra man gave Fiji even more energy as Australia were forced to endure sustained pressure. In the end neither side was able to score as the final moments drew to a close and the Australians came away with the win.