Saint-Etienne: The Wallabies need a bonus point win over Portugal on Sunday (Monday morning AEDT) to stay alive in the Rugby World Cup for another week after Fiji sealed a come from behind 17-12 victory over Georgia in Bordeaux.
Australia’s chances of miraculously sneaking into a quarter-final look even more unlikely, with Fiji now only needing to win or come within seven points of Portugal in their final pool match next Sunday to advance to the last eight.
The equation was simple: if Fiji beat Georgia and picked up a bonus point by scoring four or more tries, the Wallabies would be on the next available flight home early next week.
Fiji looked and played like an entirely different side to the one who defeated Australia 22-15 a fortnight ago in Saint-Etienne.
Australian players and coaches watched the match at the team’s hotel in Saint-Galmier, hoping that Georgia could pull off a major upset and keep Australia’s faint World Cup hopes alive.
Georgia led 9-0 at half-time and could have gone further ahead, save for a controversial forward pass call in the lead-up to what should have been a try.
At the 50-minute mark, Fiji still trailed by nine points and hadn’t scored a try.
However, Fiji kicked into gear, with Waisea Naycalevu and Vinaya Habosi scoring five-pointers to help the Pacific Island nation chalk up their second win from three matches in this tournament.
Fiji did not get a bonus point because they only scored two tries.
It is the first time Fiji have won back-to-back games at a Rugby World Cup since 2007.
Fiji picked up four competition points and now sit in second spot in Pool C on 10 points. Australia, on six points, must score four tries against Portugal and win the match - for a total of five competition points - to stay in France for another week.
However, Fiji’s win has potentially prolonged the inevitable for the Wallabies. The chances of Fiji failing to beat Portugal in their final match are slim.
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It could be a grim week for the Wallabies if they have to remain in France, without a game next weekend, to wait for Fiji to jump ahead of them into second spot on the ladder.
This is all provided that Australia demolish Portugal and atone for an ugly 40-6 loss to Wales last week.
“If I’m being honest, we were beaten to the punch in the first half,” said Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui. They came out firing. We were probably lucky to only be down by nine points. We knew it was going to be a battle. Just thankful we came home with the result.”
