This tournament has well and truly flown under the radar, which isn't at all surprising with the Rugby Championship running alongside it. However, the Pacific Nations Cup should no longer be neglected according to our scribe, who reckons he has two very solid bets for this weekend's action.
Tonga v Fiji | Friday 6 September | Teufaiva Stadium
To Win (80 Mins)
Tonga | Draw | Fiji
Handicap
Tonga | Fiji
First up it’s the flying Fijians taking on Tonga. The visitors have enjoyed a bright start to the tournament beating Samoa 42-16 in Round 1. Trailing 5-13 with 30-minutes on the board, the Fijians moved through the gears running in a number of tries while only conceding three points in the remaining 50 minutes of the fixture.
While the Fijians will be looking to take home silverware, this tournament is also about blooding players and testing combinations as Fiji look towards the next Rugby World Cup. They have achieved the latter so far with sevens convert Iosefo Masi leading the charge in the centres while winger Epeli Momo and full-back Vuate Karawalevu impressed on debut.
While Fiji won their first fixture, Tonga had no such luck as they went down 43-17 to the Samoan outfit Fiji beat the week prior. The Tongan defence was pretty dreadful during the fixture and was summed up by a second half try where their players stopped having expected a knock on to be called only for the referee to say it had come off a Samoan players chest as one of the Samoan locks walked n for a 50-minute try.
Verdict: Fiji
I reckon it’s going to be a long old night for the Tongan side who are likely going to struggled to contain this dangerous Fijian attack.
Japan v United States | Saturday 7 September | Kumagaya Rugby Stadium
To Win (80 Mins)
Japan | Draw | USA
Handicap
Japan | USA
We head over to Japan for the final fixture which sees the Brave Blossoms take on the USA. The Japanese finally broke their duck under Eddie Jones’ second stint at the coaching helm as they bounced back from July series defeats to England and Georgia to beat Canada 28-55 at BC place.
While Canada aren’t the strongest of opposition, the States aren’t exactly a massive step up in class either as was evident when the two met this past weekend with the USA winning a scrappy fixture 28-15.
The two sides last met in 2019 with Japan running out 20-34 victors. The States have fallen off a cliff when it comes to performances since then so we’re likely to see the Japanese take this one by far more points that they did in 2019.
Verdict: Japan
I’m expecting a big win for the Japanese here. They showed some real promise against Canada and I expect them to be more clinical on both attack and defence against the USA.
