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Stats Tell Story as PNC Final Games are Set

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Stats Tell Story as PNC Final Games are Set

Photo Toru Hanai via Getty Images.

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

Key Stats for Samoa vs Japan

Penalties and Turnovers Conceded: 24

Lineouts Won/Lost/Percentage: 5/5/50%

Tackles Made/Missed/Percentage: 172/22/88.7%

Carries: 76
Meters Gained: 549

(Compared to USA 78/419 with more possession time.)

Biggest Carrier: Tomasi Alosio (Fullback) 9-119