David Pocock scored twice as Australia proved too strong for Fiji, coming away from Cardiff with a 28-13 victory in their first match at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The Wallabies missed out on a bonus point, but coach Michael Cheika wasn’t too concerned post match.
It was Fiji’s second successive loss, meaning the quarter finals are just about out of reach.
Brumbies star Pocock relished his new role at number eight. “It was good. It was everything we expected; tough, physical, they threw the ball around a lot.
“There were some really pleasing aspects of our game, but also plenty to work on which is what you expect in your first game, but good to get the win.”
Pocock scored twice from the rolling maul, something we saw on more than one occasion in Super Rugby, when he at one stage picked up four tries in one match.
“The credit goes to the big guys up front who lay the platform there, but it’s something we’ve been working on and it’s good to see a couple of tries,” he said.
While Fiji possessed a quite literally massive threat in the form of Nemani Nadolo on the wing, his cousin and Wallaby counterpart, Tevita Kuridrani, kept an eye on him all night, with one or two tasty confrontations.
Sekope Kepu stepped his way to a try for the Wallabies, with Bernard Foley’s conversion taking things to a 25-3 lead and ominous signs for the flying Fijians, who had a quite short turnaround after taking part in the opening game of the tournament on Friday night.
They stayed in the game though, fighting back to get within 15 points, the closest they have been to the Wallabies since losing by 13 points way back in 1984.
Michael Cheika, David Pocock and Akapusi Qera post match interviews
Michael Cheika
David Pocock
Akapusi Qera
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