By Milly McEvoy at Salford Community Stadium

Fiji boss Ioan Cunningham believes his former side Wales should fear the Fijiana after they battled to a 29-15 loss to Scotland in the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Advertisement

Loraini Senivutu, Manuqalo Komaitai and Karalaini Naisewa all crossed for Fiji, but a red card for Bitila Tawake denied Cunningham’s side a chance to mount an impressive comeback.

They will now face Wales in Exeter next Saturday as both look to end their World Cup campaigns with a win.

“We were seriously under the pump early on,” Cunningham said. “But I think we gave Wales something to think about ahead of next week.

“We’ve got a very powerful players and if we carry hard and go at them, we’ve got every chance.”

One place Cunningham hopes to see his charges improve is on their start with Scotland scoring just 94 seconds into the match.

Advertisement

Francesca McGhie stormed over for her fourth try of the World Cup with Rhona Lloyd soon joining her fellow wing on the scoresheet.

But Fiji then thought back as Nunia Daunimoala produced a sensational linebreak before setting up Senivutu.

After weathering a storm, Lloyd got her second try of the match to give Scotland a 12-point lead at half-time.

The break saw the Fijiana emerge re-invigorated and after two attempts, Komaitai went over for their second.

However, Tawake was sent off for a high tackle to Elis Martin that meant Fiji had to play the final 24 minutes with 14 players.

McGhie got her second before Emma Orr produced a stunning run to move the game out of sight of Fiji, who ended on a high with a try from Karalaini Naisewa.

Advertisement

The defeat to Scotland, as well as Canada’s win over Wales, means Fiji are unable to qualify for the knockout stages but can earn a second-ever win at the World Cup.

“I think there was a period in the match where it got away from us,” Cunningham said. “Credit to Scotland, they weathered the storm when we were camped on their line.

“Test matches are about fine margins and we didn’t capitalise on our chances.

“We need to work on discipline and also it’s about executing in key moments and being calm. We’ve got to dust ourselves off but we need to start better.

“We’ve done a lot of work on resilience and focusing on winning the next moment when something not gone our way and that was encouraging.”

With more than 400,000 tickets already sold, and prices starting at just £5 for children and £10 for adults, fans are encouraged to secure their tickets now via tickets.rugbyworldcup.com