Fiji 41 Chile 16

Fiji completed their four-match tour of South America, which forms part of the pre-World Cup preparations, with a comfortable 41-16 win at the Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago.

The most pleasing aspect of the Fijian performance against Chile was not the win, but the four brilliant tries scored by their flying winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca, who used his blistering pace to leave the flat-footed Chilean defenders stranded.

Caucaunibuca has now scored nine tries in three matches since recovering from an injury that has plagued him since the Super 12.  But four of those tries, against Salta, will not count as official first-class tries, with both sides using more that the stipulated seven replacements and the game thus cannot be counted as a first-class fixture.

However, Caucaunibuca still has an impressive record, with five tries in his two official Tests for Fiji -- having also scored against the Pumas.  He has also become the first Fijian to score four tries in a Test since Niumaia Korovata achieved that feat in 1990.

The four tries Caucaunibuca scored certainly went a long way towards killing off the resistance of Chile.

The speedy Caucau opened his try-scoring account in the second minute, but Chile bounced back with a penalty from Cristián González six minutes later.  The score stayed at 5-3 for 10 minutes, before a penalty try and two quick tries by Caucaunibuca, combined with a conversion from fly-half Nicky Little, made it 22-3.

González kicked one more penalty before the break to make it 22-6.

After the break the Fijians broke further clear with tries by Caucaunibuca (his fourth), Ratu Rabeivi and Sekowe Leawere.  Veteran Sevens wizard Waisale Serevi, who came on as replacement, converted two of the tries.

But Chile got some consolation with a late try from centre Sebastian Pizarro.  González added the conversion and a penalty for some respectability to their score.

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Richard Nyholt, 2 Bill Gadolo, 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Kele Leawere, 5 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 6 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Kitione Salawa, 8 Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, 9 Mosese Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 12 Seru Rabeni, 13 Saimoni Rokini, 14 Sekove Leawere, 15 Norman Ligairi
Reserves:  Waisale Serevi, Paula Biutanaseva, Isaia Rasila, Naka Seru, Seta Tawake Naivaluwaqa

Attendance:  3600
Referee:  Slinger s.

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Leawere S. 1, Rabeni S. 1, Caucaunibuca R. 4, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 1, Serevi W.T. 2