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Cunningham 'proud' of his Fiji side in Scotland defeat
By Joe Harvey at Salford Community Stadium, Salford
Ioan Cunnigham said he was proud of his Fiji side after their 29-15 loss to Scotland.
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The defeat knocked his side out of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup but saw the Pacific Islanders push their opponents all the way to the final whistle with a spirited second half display.
Scotland saw Francesca McGhie and Rhona Lloyd breached the whitewash twice, and Emma Orr once, at Salford Community Stadium to pick up a bonus point win.
Fiji’s points came thanks to Loraini Senivutu, Manuqalo Komaitai and Karalaini Naisewa.
Two of those tries came in the final 30 minutes for the Fijiana, who wrestled back momentum and consistently tested Scotland’s defences with their physicality and ability to keep the ball alive.
“Super proud,” Cunningham said. “And credit to the team, we’ve done a lot of work on winning the next moment, not to dwell on what’s happened and the team have really bought into that.
“We can see that because we were under the pump in that first 50 minutes, but how we responded was great.
“I was really pleased with our growth from last week to this week where we kept the ball.
“We went through many more phases than we did last week, so that’s a positive step.”
There was an added element to Fiji’s exertions in Manchester.
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Earlier in the week the side had to make a public show of unity after social media abuse following their 65-7 loss to Canada on the opening weekend of World Cup action.
Teenage wing Michella’e Stolz wrote an open letter to her teammates in which she discussed her admiration for them.
It added an extra layer of desire to everything that the Pacific Islanders did.
“It’s taken up a lot of energy, especially in the week,” Cunningham said. “Credit to everyone in the team, including backroom staff, just to come together and be a unit, respond positively thorough our play against a strong team – I think we showed a great response to it.”
Next week Cunningham’s side will face Wales in Exeter. Both sides know that their tournaments are over, so pride is principally on offer on the south coast.
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It will also be a first time for Cunningham coming up against Wales. Head coach of the side for three years between 2021 and 2024, the 42-year-old knows plenty about Fiji’s final opponents of this year’s World Cup.
One of the keys for Fiji will be keeping players on the field. Yellow cards meant that his team defended for 20 minutes a player down and a late red card for Bitila Tawake made life difficult late on.
As ever the Welshman’s instructions are curt and decisive about how he wants his side to approach the fixture.
“We’ve got to dust ourselves off again,” Cunningham said. “Next week for me, the key will be how we start. If we start well, we’ll give ourselves a great chance.”