Fiji finish Pacific Nations Cup on a high after edging out Samoa 10-3

Fiji 10-3 Samoa, Suva

Vereniki Goneva went into record books as Fiji edged out Samoa 10-3 in their Pacific Nations Cup encounter in Suva on Saturday.

Samoa missed an early penalty in the 16th minute when UJ Seuteni's kick went wayward and the fly-half missed his second three-pointer six minutes later as both the teams failed to score a point in the opening quarter.

Ben Volavola managed to get the breakthrough in the 33rd minute when Ben Volavola kicked a penalty goal before Seuteni helped Samoa level the scores just before the break.

The decisive moment in the game came immediately after the break when he crossed over for his 21st Test try - which was also the only touchdown in the game as Fiji stretched the scoreline to 8-3 that became 10-3 after a conversion from Volavola.

“We won a very physical arm wrestle today. it was a tough battle for us,” Fiji coach John McKee said. “Credit to Samoa, they put us under a lot of pressure and made us make errors.”

Samoa coach Steve Jackson said: “I was pretty happy. Did we deserve to lose? I’m not too sure. I was pretty happy, the scoreline doesn’t reflect how our team went.”