The USA will play Samoa for 3rd in the Pacific Nations Cup; we know this now that Japan defeated Samoa in the second semifinal on Sunday.
Semifinals:
Fiji 22 USA 3
Japan 49 Samoa 27
5th-6th Game:
Tonga 30 Canada 17
3rd-4th Game: USA vs Samoa September 21 3AM ET
Final: Japan vs Fiji September 21 6AM ET
Some notes from the competition so far:
Jinx!
World Rugby pointed out that the USA had gone 58 games (excluding World Cup games) straight scoring at least one try in a test match. Well, that ended on Saturday.
USA vs Fiji
The Eagles has 52% of field position but only 42% of bal possession against Fiji. This translated into fewer carries, fewer meters gained, and, of course, fewer points.
Offloads vs Bad Passes: Fiji 11 and 11, USA 3 and 8.
Rucks and Mauls Lost: Fiji 4, USA 7
Tackle Breaks: Fiji 33, USA 19
Tackles Made/Missed/Percentage: Fiji 74/19/79.5%. USA 137/33/80.5
Positive Tackles: Fiji 11 USA 2
Lineouts Won/Lost/Percentage: Fiji 16/2/89%. USA 12/16/75%
Most Carries USA: Paddy Ryan, Tavite Lopeti, and Thomas Tu'avao 10
Meters Gained: Nate Augspurger 74, Tavite Lopeti 68
Leading Tacklers: Thomas Tu'avao 18, Cory Daniel 15, Paddy Ryan 14, Jason Damm 12, Sean McNulty 12
