These runaway victories simply had to be expected. We have seen similar margins at many a World Cup of the past, and they involved far fewer nations than the eighteen contesting this brand-new WXV.

The disparities were shown most clearly in that second game. For all their recent troubles, the Irish showed far more know-how than their Kazakh opponents, whose union had stopped supporting 15s rugby after their last RWC appearance in 2014. And it showed.

As a glaring example: Ireland, in unfamiliar white tops and black shorts, needed less than two minutes to open their account. Playing with speed and efficiency, they found their way to the line through Christy Haney. But then we had a worrying indication of the Kazakhs’ unfamiliarity with the 15s game. Several of them started wandering forward after the try was awarded, as if they were still playing 7s.

That was merely the start of a torrent of tries. By a cute chance of fate, the two players to register four tries, Beibhinn Parsons and Eve Higgins, had both returned from the successful 7s squad to bolster Irish chances. Not to be outdone, Maeve Healy, Linda Djougang, Molly Scuffil-McCabe, Grace Moore, Aoife Dalton (2), Brittany Hogan and Lauren Delaney all added to the harvest.

Another inevitability came when Doriane Domenjo flourished two cards, to Anna Chebotar and the skipper Karina Sazontova. Fortunately both were yellows.

Kazakhstan, known as the Nomads, were unfortunate to meet a top seed first up. Next week it will be Kenya, where they can hope to find their way into the game more effectively. Familiarity breeds success.

Did Scott Bemand feel any nerves? It’s just possible, but he’ll be delighted with this first showing of a renewed Irish squad.

Teams:

Ireland
1 Linda Djougang, 2 Neve Jones, 3 Christy Haney, 4 Dorothy Wall, 5 Sam Monaghan (co-captain), 6 Grace Moore, 7 Edel McMahon (co-captain), 8 Brittany Hogan, 9 Molly Scuffil-McCabe, 10 Dannah O’Brien, 11 Beibhinn Parsons 12 Aoife Dalton 13 Eve Higgins 14 Natasja Behan 15 Meabh Deely
Bench: 16 *Sarah Delaney 17 Sadhbh McGrath 18 *Collis 19 *Eimear Corri 20 Maeve Og O’Leary 21 Aoibheann Reilly 22 Nicole Fowley 23 Leah Tarpey

Kazakhstan
1 Natalya Kamendrovskaya, 2 Moldir Askhat, 3 Tatyana Dadajanova, 4 Anna Chebotar, 5 Darya Simakova, 6 Tatyana Kruchinkina, 7 Karina Sazontova (captain), 8 Symbat Zhamankulova, 9 Daiana Kazibekova, 10 Kundyzay Baktybayeva, 11 Alyona Melnikova, 12 Darya Tkachyova, 13 Lyudmila Ivanova, 14 Liliya Kibisheva, 15 Yeva Bekker
Bench: 16 Yelena Yurova, 17 Balzhan Akhbayeva, 18 Karina Tankisheva, 19 Yuliya Oleinikova, 20 Daria Kuznetsova, 21 Svetlana Malezhina, 22 Kuralay Turalykova, 23 Irina Balabina

Referee: Doriane Domenjo (FFR)
ARs: Ano Kuwai (JRFU) and Ella Goldsmith (RA) TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net

Colombia v Fiji

Of all the romantic encounters in WXV the match between Fijiana and the Tucanes may have been the most appealing.

It took Mereoni Nakesa only three minutes to power over the line for Fiji.

Colombia responded with a fine attack, but as they tried to recycle in the shade of the posts, they were found guilty of holding on. On nine minutes the same, but worse; a knock-on stopped them just three metres from the line.

Fijiana showed their paces with a wonderful back-hand pass from the captain Sereima Leweniqila to set Vani Arei free to the line.

The Tucanes got off the mark with a penalty by their reliable No 15, Maria Arzuaga.

But Fiji’s power and pace put them right on top. Their full-back, Luisa Basei, had an acre of space to stroll into. So the game was all but over after 40 minutes.

Half-time: Fiji 31 Colombia 3

Sadly, the second half turned into a procession. Even when a searching long grubber into the left corner looked threatening, the Fijiana defence had it covered. Result, a free-running try at the other end by Adita Milinia.

Luisa Basei showed the value of a reliable place-kicker; she managed six conversions from the eleven tries scored by Fijiana.

Congratulations to Camila Lopera, the captain, on scoring Colombia’s only try. The one other contribution was a second penalty from Arzuaga.

This was our chance to appreciate what a threat the Pasifika players will become, thanks to the promise of more frequent test matches. The talent is there in abundance; they combine size, power and Sevens skills to a high degree. They just haven’t had the chance to express themselves regularly till WXV came along.

Result: Colombia 13 Fiji 67

Teams

Fiji:
1 Anna Korovata, 2 Bitila Tawake, 3 Karalaini Naisewa, 4 Doreen Narokete, 5 Mereoni Nakesa, 6 Merevesi Ofakimalino, 7 Sulita Waisega, 8 Sereima Leweniqila (captain), 9 Setaita Railumu, 10 Jennifer Ravutia, 11 *Iva Sauira, 12 Vani Arei, 13 Merewai Cumu, 14 Adita Milinia, 15 Luisa Basei
Bench: 16 *Unaisi Lalabalavu, 17 Tiana Robanakadavu, 18 Salanieta Nabuli, 19 Nunia Daunimoala, 20 Adi Fulori Rotagavira, 21 Evivi Senikarivi, 22 Salanieta Kinita, 23 Merewairita
Neivosa
*uncapped

Colombia: 15 Maria Arzuaga, 14 Leidy García, 13 Maribel Mestra, 12 Isabel Ramirez, 11 Juliana Soto, 10 Camila Lopera (captain), 9 Laura Villota Noguera; 1 Tatiana Delgado, 2 Camila Cardona, 3 Carolina Naranjo, 4 Paola Delgado, 5 Laura Gutierrez, 6 Valeria Muñoz, 7 Angela Alzate, 8 Valentina Álvarez.
Bench: Silvia Olave, Natalia Barajas, Gisel Gomez, Sara Velez, Tatiana Hernandez, Stefania Sarmiento, Luisa Fernanda Zurique, Angie Manyoma.

Officials:

Referee: Amelia Luciano (USA)
ARs: Adele Robert (BEL) and Sunny Lee (HKCR) TMO: Andrew Hosie (RC)
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net

The Fijians have captured the hearts of all rugby-lovers by their approach to the game.
But the pool-draw did them no favours, bringing them up against world-ranked teams 1 and 4. They managed three splendid tries against England a fortnight ago, then beat fellow hopefuls the Boks, only to run out of puff against a reshaped French side that had a lot to prove.

As expected, Thomas Darracq gave plenty of his reserves the chance to show their paces. Inaccuracies came, not least at the line-out where Laure Touyé failed to find her mark more than once. But the team displayed power and skill, marked only by occasional over-optimism with off- loads and their ability to get past determined tackles.

But the longer the game went on, the harder the Fijians found it keeping pace with French speed of movement and ball-transfer. Jessy Trémoulière, restored to outside-half, kept booting the ball deep into opposition territory. Since the Fijian style of play depends heavily on handling skills, the errors in that department proved costly.

The first of France’s seven tries came in the 7th minute. A driving maul allowed Pauline Bourdon to exploit the blind-side; Marine Ménager made up for her dropped pass in the preceding game with a surging try.

France now repeated the dose, but on the other wing, allowing Mellisande Llorens to add to her clutch of early-career tries. With Fiji losing Talei Wilson to a late-tackle yellow, a tap penalty caught the defence unawares, and Maëlle Filopon, outstanding again today, crossed the line.

France took a 20-0 lead to the changing-room. A lead, but nowhere near the margin they sought.

The pace redoubled its efforts after the restart. Emiline Gros broke from the base of the scrum to feed Filopon for her second, then she allowed herself to score five minutes later.

As was inevitable, the latter stages belonged to les Bleues. Célia Domain, the replacement hooker, marked her debut at this level with a final try. By then she formed part of a front-row all aged 22.

Fiji’s unwise balance of power, only 15 forwards alongside 17 backs, came back to bite them. Their front row, Iris Verebalavu, Vika Matarugu and Siteri Rasolea, were starting in their third consecutive match, a demand beyond reasonable justice.

Try as they might, they were unable to repeat their heroics of Round One.

Result: France 44 Fiji 0
Player of the Match: Pauline Bourdon

Teams
France:
15 Boulard, 14 Llorens, 13 Filopon, 12 Drouin, 11 M. Ménager, 10 Trémoulière, 9 Bourdon, 1 Lindelauf, 2 Touyé, 3 Khalfaoui, 4 Ferer, 5 N’Diaye, 6 Hermet (captain), 7 Annery, 8 Gros
Bench: 16 Domain, 17 Brosseau, 18 Bernadou, 19 Feleu, 20 Escudero, 21 Chambon, 22 Queyroi, 23 Jacquet

Fiji:
1 Verebalavu, 2 Matarugu, 3 Rasolea, 4 Serevi {captain}, 5 Ofakimalino, 6 Naisewa, 7 Daveua, 8 Leweniqila, 9 Roqica, 10 Lomani, 11 Naikore, 12 Donu, 13 Matanatabu, 14 Laqeretabua, 15 Radiniyavuni
Bench: 16 Tawake, 17 Vonosere, 18 Vasuturaga, 19 Waisega, 20 Adivitaloga, 21 Cavuru, 22
Nagasau, 23 Wilson

Officials:
Referee: Amber McLachlan (RA)
Assistant Referee 1: Julianne Zussman (RC) Assistant Referee 2: Maria Beatrice Benvenuti (FIR) TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

By the purest of flukes the first day of competition saw the red-hot favourites drawn against the rank outsiders.

Normally, when top (ranked 1) meets bottom (ranked 21), you steel yourself for one-way traffic. It did come, but only after Fijiana showed how much they deserved to be appearing at this level. They brought their traditional brand of speed, dexterity and unpredictability to the game.

Riding on a wave of emotion they had the Red Roses hanging on for dear life at the start. They harried them into errors, Leanne Infante failing to find Zoe Harrison for once, and two relieving kicks were charged down. England found themselves having to make tackle after tackle.

Once the initial storm subsided, they got the show on the road. A drive to the line saw Claudia MacDonald take a sharp pass from Infante to go over unmarked on the left; the second time they have produced this trick. After another drive was held up, Zoe Aldcroft forced her way over to double the score.

A third try cost the Fijiana skipper, Sereima Leweniqila, a yellow card. This time Emily Scarratt managed the conversion (17-0)

But this misfortune stirred Fiji to greater efforts. A long England kick resulted in a dazzling counter and a first RWC try for the newcomers by Alowesi Nakoci. The crowd cheered warmly. (17-7)

England countered with an outstanding move. Deft handling let Alex Matthews feed Sadia Kabeya who made a huge break. As she was hauled down close to the line, she off-loaded a bootlace- high pass to Helena Rowland, who accepted it to go over. (24-7)

Fiji responded with more wonderful handling, off-loads competing with cut-out passes for attention. Sesenieli Donu sold a rich dummy and beat three defenders to the line.

A measure of the trouble Fijiana were giving the top-rankers: Aldcroft made fifteen tackles in forty minutes.

At the break: 24-14

But as other nations have discovered to their cost, a half-time margin of 10 points does not mean a job half completed against this current England side. Tries now rained in so fast that the Red Roses broke two of their World Cup records: for tries (14) and for total (previously 82-0 v Kazakhstan (2010).

To no-one’s surprise the Fijians ran out of breath, leaking a further ten tries. None was received with greater warmth than Abby Dow’s stormer down the right wing. After her serious leg-break in the Six Nations, this was a proper reward for guts and resilience.

Macdonald collected a further three tries (another rich reward). The remaining try-scorers were Connie Powell, Amy Cokayne (2), Leanne Infante, Abbie Ward and Lydia Thompson (2), After their demolition of the Eagles at Sixways last November this was their second 60-point half in a year.

The management will be less than delighted with the final action of the match. The Fijians covered themselves in glory as scrum-half Lavena Cavuru – who had a fine game throughout – scored a third try with the clock showing red. Just one more try and they would have gained a coveted bonus point.

And the question of the best English place-kicker must be aired; Scarratt completed only half of her attempted conversions. In tighter games this becomes a central issue.

Result: England 84 Fiji 19

Player of the Match: Sadia Kabeya

Teams

England:

15. Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 25 caps), 14. Lydia Thompson (University of Worcester Warriors, 54 caps), 13. Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning, 103 caps), 12. Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 17 caps), 11. Claudia MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs, 20 caps), 10. Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 40 caps), 9. Leanne Infante (Saracens, 52 caps), 1. Vickii Cornborough (Harlequins, 70 caps), 2. Amy Cokayne (Harlequins, 64 caps), 3. Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears, 46 caps), 4. Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 32 caps), 5. Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears, 56 caps), 6. Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, 51 caps), 7. Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 4 caps), 8. Sarah Hunter (captain, Loughborough Lightning, 135 caps)

Bench:

16. Connie Powell (Gloucester-Hartpury, 5 caps), 17. Hannah Botterman (Saracens, 30 caps), 18. Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 11 caps), 19. Cath O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning, 20 caps), 20. Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 57 caps), 21. Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 5 caps), 22. Holly Aitchison (Saracens, 10 caps), 23. Abby Dow (Wasps, 24 caps)

Fiji

1. Iris Verebalavu, 2. Vika Maturugu, 3. Siteri Rasolea*, 4. Asinate Serevi, 5. Sereima Leweniqila (captain), 6. Sulita Waisega, 7. Ema Adivitaloga, 8. Karalaini Naisewa, 9. Lavena Cavuru, 10. Merewalesi Rokouono, 11. Vitalina Naikore, 12. Sesenieli Donu, 13. Rajieli Laqeretabua, 14. Alowesi Nakoci, 15. Roela Radiniyavuni

Bench:

16. Bitila Tawake, 17. Bulou Vasuturaga, 18. Mereoni Vonosere, 19. Merevesi Ofakimalino, 20.
Raijieli Daveua, 21. Akosita Ravato, 22. Ana Maria Roqica, 23. Melaia Matanatabu

Officials:

Referee: Aurélie Groizeleau (FFR)
Assistant Referee 1: Lauren Jenner (NZR) Assistant Referee 2: Maria Beatrice Benvenuti (FIR)
TMO: Chris Assmus (RC)

This is good news for Fiji, offering players more exposure to international competition before they go to the World Cup . The squad of 30 contains eight who are resident abroad in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The one name familiar to English eyes is Rachel Laqeretabua of Saracens.

They will be based throughout in Australia. They are not a full-strength Fiji squad, though they contain several capped players.

Both the men’s and the women’s squads take their name Drua from the double-hulled boat that lies at the heart of Fijian culture and history.

FRU’s Chief Executive John O’Connor expressed his gratitude to Rugby Australia for their generosity in allowing their players to join the premier league RA possesses. It really shouldn’t be like that. The team really strengthens the tournament, replacing the hotch-potch collection of players in the President’s side. The FRU wants its Fifteens squad to emulate the great achievements of its Sevens team.

Although the Super W now takes on a distinct Pacific tinge, no other Pacific nation has received an invitation. Samoa were the other Oceania team hoping for a World Cup place, but they were thwarted by travel restrictions. Even then, their play-off against Tonga approached high farce, as the match was staged in Australia and limited to players resident there. I reported on the game in November.

Oceania nations must wait for the WXV next year to have a chance of regular international competition.

For now, we can look forward to Fijiana sharpening their Fifteens skills in the Super W.

Fiji’s qualification route was a lot more straightforward as they eased to a 36-0 win over Papua New Guinea in the qualifier final before falling 24-12 to invitational winners Australia – who have already qualified via the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series – in the match to decide the overall Oceania title. New Zealand won the third-place play-off 29-0 against PNG.

Meanwhile, Australia’s men had to overcome a real scare against Samoa, coming back from 12-0 down at half-time to win 19-12. They went on to contest the Oceania title against defending Olympic champions and already-qualified Fiji, and three second-half tries saw them come from behind to make it a golden day all-round for Australia. Japan beat Samoa 26-21 to claim the bronze medal.

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Fijiana captain Rusila Nagasau said that they treated every game like a final as they wanted to ensure they gave their best performance for the Olympic qualifiers.

“For us right now everybody is happy. We came here with one aim and that is to qualify for the Olympics and we achieved that and now we are looking forward to the next tournament which is Dubai and Cape Town,” Nagasau said.

Victory over Fiji in the final rounded off a very satisfactory weekend for Australian rugby with captain Lewis Holland commenting: “The last three months have been about that game there (against Samoa) and we knew we were going to have a tough and physical game against Samoa. The tournament has been awesome as Oceania is always a tough region as we look at the teams that are in it like Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and everyone else. It’s always tough and physical.”

Eighteen teams have so far confirmed their place at Tokyo 2020. The men’s teams include Fiji, USA, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, Great Britain, Japan and now Australia, while New Zealand, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Kenya, Japan and Fiji will be in the 12-strong line-up in the women’s competition. They will be joined by the African men’s and Asia women’s qualifiers by the end of the weekend.

Papua New Guinea and Samoa women and Samoa and Tonga men will get the chance to join them in Tokyo after they booked their place in the global repechage tournament as the second and third-best teams who had not yet already qualified for the Olympic Games.

Taking place in June 2020, this will be the final opportunity for Olympic qualification.

Courtesy of World Rugby