RWC: Fijiana out
The Fijiana are out of the women’s Rugby World Cup.
The team lost 44-nil to France in its last pool match
Fiji stood firm in face of French pressure for the rest of the opening quarter but slipped further behind in the 21st minute when Jessy Trémoulière sent a penalty through the uprights.
The eight quarterfinalists in the tournament are New Zealand, Canada, England, France, Italy, Australia, USA and Wales.
The quarterfinals get underway on October 29th.
Tonga beats Wales at Rugby League World Cup match
Tonga was below its best in its Rugby League World Cup match against Wales, but still managed a comprehensive victory.
The win leaves Tonga on a track to the quarter-final against Samoa.
Tongan player of the match Daniel Tupou told NRL-dot-com the win against Wales wasn’t easy to get.
“Yeah they did, it was a tough gig tonight, they played outstanding. Started well and then we just gave them too much ball. That was the plan we wanted to start well start strong and fast but we just didn’t respect the ball in the first half and led to their first try. We know what we need to fix just start on individual errors we need to work on,” Tupou said.
Former Tahitian FIFA member might get lighter sentence
A Tahitian former FIFA executive committee member’s case is moving towards a lighter sentence.
Reynald Temarii’s is suspected to have received around $US295,000 from the Qatari football official Mohammed Bin Hamman several months after the vote.
Reynald Temarii
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Qatar is suspected to have corrupted members of FIFA to get hosting rights for the 2022 Football World Cup.
Temarii told La Premiere that he is happy the documents of the case seem to move towards a lighter sentence, as he calls himself a victim of corruption.
Samoa’s first Commonwealth Games gold medallist rewarded
Samoa’s first Commonwealth Games gold medallist has been further rewarded, with a $20,000 tala bonus from the government to recognise his achievement.
The Samoa Observer reports weightlifter Don Opeloge, winner of the men’s 96 kg division at the 2022 Games was rewarded, along with his coach Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork.
Don Opeloge, Commonwealth gold medallist
Photo: Coconet
Wallwork, who is also the President of the Samoa Weightlifting Federation, received $10,000 tala from the government as a token of appreciation for his commitment and dedication to train his winning athlete.
Wallwork said his bonus will go to four Samoan silver medallists, including a boxer, who missed out on the government payments.
Edinburgh Rugby’s Viliame Mata named man of the match
Fijian Viliame Mata is the first overseas player to play 100 matches for Scottish club Edinburgh Rugby.
Mata was named player of the match against Zebre Rugby in the United Rugby Championship.
Edinburgh Rugby won the match 38-19.
Mata is now officially his team’s 37th centurion joining Scotland’s back-row greats of Simon Taylor, Ally Hogg and Roddy Grant.
Mata was recalled into the Flying Fijians squad for the November test matches against Scotland, Ireland and the French Barbarians.
Mata signed for Edinburgh in 2016, two weeks before the coach that signed him up was sacked.
However, he told the Fiji Sun that the coaches organised a game structure that fit Mata really well and amplified his success.