No excuses for loss: Qera

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Flying Fijians skipper Akapusi Qera has said that their long trip to Ottawa is not an excuse for their 18 – 20 loss to Canada in their second Pacific Nations Cup match today.

Qera said that even though the team had made a long trip to Canada, that was not an excuse. He added that rugby is a professional game and the players  need to adapt to the situation.

The skipper admitted that the team did not play to the structure that they had played against Japan. Qera said that they need to focus and be patient at times.

The Fiji 15’s team is now second on the points table with six points and Canada is leading with 8 points.

Fiji will play USA in two weeks time but they will return home and prepare for their centennial celebrations test match against the Classic All Blacks next Wednesday.

This was Fiji’s first loss to the Canadian’s since 1995 and the first ever on Canadian soil.

With Canada leading 20-11 Qera Akapusi punched his way across the try line and Jiuta Lutumailagi scored on the conversion to make it 20-18. But Canada managed to hold on for the win.

Nadola Nemani managed to weave his way through traffic and found an open lane on the outside to run into the try zone. Koroilagilagi Setareki’s conversion attempt went just wide making it 7-5.

The two teams then went on to exchange penalties. The Fijians took their first lead of the game as Setareki converted his first penalty kick.

Braid split the uprights to reclaim the lead, however it was short lived as Canada took another penalty and Setareki made the most of his opportunity giving Fiji an 11-10 halftime lead.

 

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