The Rugby League World Cup produced its first genuine upset of scale on Saturday. Fiji beat France 54-6 at Cbus Super Stadium in the third round of the women’s tournament, and the Bulikula are through to a semi-final for the first time in the nation’s history.
It was not a late surge. Fiji were 22-0 up at the interval and scored seven further tries in the second half.
Eleven tries in a Rugby League World Cup round-three win
Tahlia Marshall took two of the eleven. The rest were shared between Maria Paseka, Aliti Namoce, Losana Lutu, Cassie Staples, Latisha Smythe, Leilani Ahsam, Taina Naividi and Lorren Ieli, which is as even a spread as a scoreline like this produces.
France got on the board through Stecy Bessiere, with Lisa Diraison converting. Fiji’s one setback was an injury to Maria Paseka, who left the field in the second half with a leg problem after getting her name on the scoresheet.
The semi-finals: Australia, and a Pacific pairing
Fiji now face Australia, the defending world champions, next weekend. Fiji Village reported the fixture as being set for Allianz Stadium. The kick-off time has not been published.
The second semi-final is Fetu Samoa against New Zealand. Two of the four remaining sides are therefore Pacific nations, which is a first for the competition at this stage and the most interesting structural story of the tournament so far.
Working backwards through the scoring explains how one-sided it was. Fiji’s 22 points at the interval came from four tries and three conversions, and the seven tries after the restart arrived against a side that had already stopped containing them. Scoring more heavily in the second half than the first, in a match already won, is the detail Australia will have noted.
Reading a forty-eight point margin
A result this lopsided in a qualifying round is a statement about depth rather than one good afternoon. France were held scoreless for the opening forty minutes and finished with a single converted try, while Fiji scored at better than a try every eight minutes across the match.
If you are picking up the tournament late and need somewhere to watch the semi-finals, our comparison of sports streaming services covers which packages carry international rugby league, and the football transfer window guide is the companion piece for readers following the other code.
What Fiji carry into the last four
Nine different try scorers across one match is the statistic that will interest Australia most, because it means the threat is not concentrated in one or two players who can be marked out of a game. Add a clean sheet through the opening forty minutes and the performance holds up as more than a mismatch.
The open question is Maria Paseka, who scored and then went off in the second half with a leg injury. A first-time semi-finalist has less cover for a missing player than the sides left in the competition, and the squad has a week to find out how serious it is.
