Fiji………………………………. 17pts
Tries: Nayacalevu 51, Habosi 68
Conversions: Lomani 52, 69
Penalty: Lomani 65
Georgia………………………. 12pts
Penalties: Matkava 5, 80; Niniashvili 19, 31
FRANK Lomani came off the bench to fire flat Fiji and take them to within a point of a likely quarter-final against England, but they nearly lost it at the death as Georgia remained defiant to the end.
A feature of the game had been Georgia's inability to turn breaks into tries and they had nothing to show from 10 visits to Fiji's 22. With time up, they had a final chance having just kicked a penalty with a break down the left but instead of keeping the ball in hand Gela Aprasidze kicked to the line and full-back Ilaisa Droasese gratefully kicked the ball dead under pressure from Luka Matkava.
Fiji's players flopped to the ground in exhaustion. An expected stroll against a side that had failed to turn up against Australia and Portugal turned into a slog with the Georgians fighting for every scrap of possession and, led by outside-half Matkava who made 15 tackles, tackling with relish.
Fiji struggled to find a response. They trailed 9-0 at the interval having shown, like Georgia against Portugal the previous week, a discomfort when being expected to win rather than being tagged as underdogs. Having to make the running, they lacked shape and leadership and expectation quickly disintegrated into hope.
They turned it around when Lomani came on as scrum-half seven minutes into the second half. He got the ball away quickly from the breakdown, and while Fiji still struggled to off-load in contact against a blitz defence, they started to achieve width.
Within three minutes of his arrival they scored their first try. Semi Radradra was in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on so skipper Waisea Nayacalevu was on the left wing when Josua Tuisova's long pass gave the centre just enough room to make an acrobatic leap for the line and touch the ball down an instant before being shoved out of play.
Georgia, who lost two forwards through injury in the opening 16 minutes, did not buckle even as fatigue took hold. Lomani missed a penalty before landing one on 24 minutes from a similar angle but 10 metres further back.
Fiji were in the lead for the first time and started to look like themselves. Levani Botia had been their one player to rise above the mediocrity, using his strength over the ball to win turnovers and leading the charge so it was fitting he should manufacture the try that should have ended the contest. After replacement hooker Tevita Ikanivere's rampaging run, Botia made ground down the right and when he was eventually tackled, somehow managed to free his hands to set up Vinaya Habosi, who had eight minutes before come on for Radradra who had been unable to influence the game from the wing.
Lomani's conversion gave Fiji an eight-point lead with 12 minutes to go. They had time to go for the bonus point, but Georgia would not go away and when Tuisova was sent to the sin-bin for a head-high tackle on full-back Mariano Modebadze, there was enough time for the restart after Matkava kicked the resulting penalty.
Georgia ran the ball from their 22. For all their opportunities in the opening half, they only had a penalty from Matkava and two from long-range by David Niniashvili to show for their pressure, but at the very end they looked dangerous.
They went from left to right and back again, Modebadze finding a hole and Aprasidze was away. As he approached the 22, the scrum-half had two players inside him but opted to kick and Fiji avoided the humbling of four years before when they lost to Uruguay.
A point against Portugal next weekend will take them into the quarterfinalsbut,unlesstheirlineout and goal-kicking improve, that will be as far as they go and after this display, they should be underdogs again.
