Northern | US

Watch: Fiji edge NZ Schoolboys Barbarians in thrilling upset


Comments
Comment

A Fijian under-18 side has edged the New Zealand Schoolboys Barbarians by 15-10 in a thrilling contest at Jerry Collins Stadium in Wellington.

ADVERTISEMENT

The visitors completed a historic victory by holding out in the dying stages after staying in front on the scoreboard throughout the match. They played with flair and freedom, using the offload to open up the home side.

Fiji opened the scoring early with a penalty before striking on a kick return play that had the Barbarians caught short with a grubber kick to take a 10-0 lead.

The New Zealand Barbarians fought back into the match with a rolling maul try to reduce the deficit to 10-5 by halftime.

After finding the equalizer shortly into the second stanza, the Barbarians looked like they were taking control before a sniping run by the Fijian flyhalf from the base of the ruck caught them napping.

For the final 30 minutes, the Fijians held on with desperate defence as both sides missed opportunities with ball in hand.

The New Zealand Schoolboys Barbarians are a rep side made up of players who attended the New Zealand Schoolboys development camp earlier this month. From the camp, a New Zealand Schoolboys and New Zealand Schoolboys Barbarians are selected.

ADVERTISEMENT

The New Zealand Schoolboys ‘A’ side won their match against the Australian Barbarians comfortably in Brisbane by 55-31 after beating Tonga 54-0 last Thursday.

The New Zealand Barbarians lost their opening fixture to a tough New Zealand Maori under-18 side 21-20 before playing the Fijians.

 

Get the RugbyPass App 📱

Follow the biggest matches with live scores, line-ups, news and analysis, all in the RugbyPass App.

Download Here
On Apple IOS, Android, and Tablet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

P
Phantom 35 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



...

14 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close