PNC: Wins for Samoa and Junior ABs

The Junior All Blacks made it two victories out of two in the Pacific Nations Cup on Thursday as they swept aside Fiji 45-17 in Lautoka.

The Junior All Blacks made it two wins out of two in the Pacific Nations Cup on Thursday as they swept aside Fiji 45-17 in Lautoka.

Hurricanes winger Hosea Gear stole the show with three tries in a much-improved performance from the one that defeated Samoa last weekend.

In the other match, Japan squandered their 15-12 second-half lead as they fell to Samoa's superior strength in 34-15 defeat to wrap up the second round of tournament fixtures.

Fiji 17-45 Junior All Blacks

The majority of the expectant 10,000 fans at Churchill Park went home disappointed after a well-drilled Junior All Black outfit proved too strong for Fiji.

The strong Gear scored the first and last of seven Junior All Black tries with the rest coming at regular intervals throughout the match. For Fiji, scrum-half Nemia Kenatale Ranuku scored their only try of the first half. Sakiusa Matadigo and Iliesa Keresoni added further Fiji scores in the second period.

Japan 15-34 Samoa

Samoa's six tries earned them a valuable bonus-point win over Japan in the other PNC match on Thursday.

Samoa led 12-0 at half time before Jack Tarrant and Hirotoki Onozawa scored soon after the break to tie the match up at 12-12.

But that was to be the last score by Japan as Samoa took control of the match.

Semo Sititi, who made the first of his 57 Test appearances for Samoa against Japan in 1999, came off the bench to score one of Samoa's second-half tries.

Pool Standings after Round Two
(Tonga and Japan have played one game)

Junior ABs 9
Samoa 6
Fiji 5
Tonga 0
Japan 0

With thanks to the IRB