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FIJ vs COK
Women's Pacific Championships
HFC Bank Stadium, Suva
Fiji Bulikula
vs
Cook Islands Moana
18
FT
6
Action
Lineups
All
Facts Only
All
Full-Time: 18 - 6
That's all we have for this one. Stay with Tribe for the Men's Pacific Bowl clash between Fiji Bati and Cook Islands Aitu which gets underway shortly in Suva. This is Anthony Morgan signing off.
Fiji will head to Auckland to meet Samoa in the Pacific Bowl Final, where the winner earns direct qualification into the 2026 World Cup. Cook Islands' Pacific Championships campaign comes to an end and they are now out of the running to qualify for the World Cup.
Cook Islands toiled hard for the full 70 minutes but lacked the attacking class to trouble the Bulikula defence. Crystal Tamarua trundled it forward for 129m and laid on 21 tackles in a solid all-round display in the middle. Her front row partner April Ngatupuna asked plenty of questions of the defence with four offloads while out wide Tyler Birch (74m) and Kiarah Siauane were heavily involved. Kiana Takairangi had a tough night at fullback as she spilt several of Luisa Yaranamua's high kicks.
Fiji lifted their completion rate to 62% (22/35) in the second half as they enjoyed the lion's share of the field position. Vitalina Naikore was a standout on the right wing with three tries, 11 tackle busts and 103m from her 12 runs. Taina Naividi was evasive at left centre with 122m and four tackle busts from her 13 runs, while in the pack Nanise Vakacavu was strong with 118m and five tackle busts. Talei Holmes used all her experience to good effect and was solid on both sides of the ball with 59m and 35 tackles.
Fiji won their way through to the Pacific Bowl Final after a hard-fought 18-6 win over the Cook Islands in Suva. Leading 10-6 at halftime, the Bulikula looked the more threatening side on attack but were plagued by regular handling errors. In between those errors they provided a couple of moments of brilliance as Vitalina Naikore broke the game open with a try from a deft Losana Lutu chip in the 40th minute. Naikore completed her hat-trick and secured the win when she scored after some slick hands by Lutu, Cassie Staples and Sienna Laing with nine minutes remaining.
70'
Cook Islands have one play from the 20m restart as Tamarua takes a carry up towards her 30m as the siren goes for fulltime. Fiji go through to take on Samoa in next week's Pacific Bowl Final.
70'
Fiji work it over their 30m through Holmes before Namoce powers towards halfway on the third. Hartigan fires an inside pass to Staples who is cut down 32m out before Yaranamua surges 20m out on the fifth. Yaranamua pops in a grubber that dribbles dead for a 20m restart.
69'
Cook Islands work it inside 40m before Poko hits Ngatupuna with a short ball 25m out. A threatening shift to the left comes undone as Siauane spills a regulation pass by Birch 15m out.
68'
Bari and Sekitoga take runs to the Fiji 40m before Lutu keeps it alive to Rainima on the fifth. Lutu bombs to the left where it bounces back to Sekitoga who regathers and is wrapped up on halfway. Cook Islands will take possession from the handover.