The Fiji Warriors are marching up the ladder in the PRC; they dominated the Samoan visitors and ran out winners 39-22.

The Fiji Warriors have done what a lot have trouble doing, they learnt a hard lesson from last weeks loss & came out today and closed out a great win over Savaii Samoa.

Fijian’s are renowned for their hospitality, the Samoan team has been basking in a fancy hotel with great service this week leading up to the match, but on the field today they were shown no such luxuries and were swamped by white jerseys.

Watching the teams running out the rugby mind was electric; you see international IRB World Sevens Samoan stars amongst the mix. Bulging Alafoti Faosiliva, classy Lolo Lui & Simaika Mikaele are all world class and on display today. In an entertaining encounter the scene was set rugby was alive and well.

The Warriors started off with a hiss and a roar with 2 great tries in the first 12 mins, the bounce seemed to be going their way and they looked very sharp. In past seasons the Island cousin’s from Samoa have won the physical forward battles, the Fijians always have an abundance of loosies and wingers, but today it was there tight boys that stamped their mark on the match.

Locks Ben Sadrugu & Leone Nakarawa commanded the high stuff, powered into rucks and mauls and even made try saving tackles today. They were backed up by the rest of the pack and had the better of the Savaii men all day.

Savaii had their moments too especially in the backs, the Ref let advantage apply and at every chance they obliged with counter attacking prowess. Snipping runs, side-steps and straight running was met with fierce defence. Savaii were gritty and refused to throw the towel in, pegging back the scoreboard with some tries put the heat back on the Warrior’s.

A sign of a great team is being able to bounce back, each try the Samoan’s got, was almost matched 45 seconds later by the Warrior’s. This inner drive made sure a bonus point win was always on the cards & they got it alright.

Learning from last weeks let down, the Warrior’s didn’t fall into the head rush syndrome today, when they were in the scoring zone and sucked a penalty, they took it, kicked it and marched back to half way with important points. It was this approach that made sure there was only one team getting the result today.

In the end the home will be smiling, they played well & won well. Now they have the other Island of Samoa to compete with, unbeaten Upolu will be next Friday and the matchup will be massive.