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SAINT-ETIENNE: Australia’s Rugby World Cup campaign is on life support after Fiji survived a scare to overcome Georgia 17-12 in Bordeaux.
The result means that Fiji (10 points) can clinch the second quarter-final berth from Pool C by claiming a single bonus point against Portugal on October 9 (AEDT) – even if the Wallabies (six points) beat Portugal with a bonus point on Monday (AEDT).
Wales (14 points) have already booked their spot in the quarters.
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An inspired Georgia led 9-0 at halftime and deserved to be up by more but had Aka Tabutsadze’s try harshly scrubbed out for a forward pass.
Captain Waisea Nayacalevu began the Fiji fightback with a 51st minute try, spectacularly finished in the left corner.
Reserve winger Vinaya Habosi then burst onto an offload from man of the match Levani Botia to make it 17-9 with 12 minutes to go.
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Georgia still had enough in the tank to kick a late penalty and chase what would have been a scinitillating victory at the death, when replacement Gela Aprasidze’s breakout and kick ahead was desperately snuffed out by Fiji fullback Ilaisa Droasese.
Droasese chased back, hoofed the ball over the dead ball line and collapsed in exhaustion, as did pretty much everyone else on the field.
“Congratulations to Georgia, if I am being honest we were beaten to the punch in the first half,” Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui said.
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“We knew it was going to be a battle. I am just thankful we have the result… I am really just worried about Portugal coming up, we have to take care of business. Prepare well and put on a performance. If we look too far beyond that we are going to slip over.”
The Wallabies watched the Fiji-Georgia game together as a team.
“The hardest thing was after that Wales game, knowing we’d taken the tournament out of our hands,” halfback Tate McDermott said.
“We’ve done well this week, it’s a massive test of our resilience because we’ve got to live with the result that happened against Wales.
“But at the same time we’ve got to keep moving forwards.”
Fiji 17 (Waisea Nayacalevu, Vinaya Habosi tries; Frank Lomani 2 conversions, penalty) Georgia 12 (Luka Matkava 2 penalties, Davit Niniashvili 2 penalties). HT: 0-9
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Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
