{"id":249212,"date":"2022-11-05T20:50:06","date_gmt":"2022-11-05T21:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=249212"},"modified":"2022-11-07T05:00:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T05:00:05","slug":"wrong-call-costs-fiji-in-world-cup-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=249212","title":{"rendered":"'Wrong' call costs Fiji in World Cup thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand confirmed a semifinal showdown with Australia at the Rugby League World Cup only after surviving a major scare from Fiji on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Jordan Rapana's late try sealed a 24-18 win for the Kiwis in their quarterfinal in Hull.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, England defeated Papua New Guinea 46-6 in Wigan with winger Tommy Makinson scoring five of their nine tries.<\/p>\n

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In a semifinal in London next Saturday, England will face Samoa or Tonga, who meet in the last quarterfinal on Sunday at Warrington.<\/p>\n

Fiji led the Kiwis for much of their quarterfinal but Rapana kicked a late penalty to put his side ahead for the first time then claimed the clinching try.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The penalty goal game when Joseph Manu was originally ruled to have lost the ball for the Kiwis in Fiji's half, but a captain's challenge saw the bunker overturn the initial decision and instead award a penalty for a strip from Viliame Kikau.<\/p>\n

The late decision to penalise Fiji proved costly to the end result and many felt it was the wrong decision with no clear-cut evidence that Manu hadn't lost control of the ball himself.<\/p>\n

"He has dropped the ball Joey Manu, he just lets go, I don't think there is a pull on it," the commentator said.<\/p>\n

"It is a penalty also right in front of the sticks, this is a cruel, cruel twist of fate for Fiji isn't it."<\/p>\n

That view was backed up by \ufeffGreg Alexander on Fox Sports.<\/p>\n

"It was a big call…we then saw a thousand replays to come to a decision.<\/p>\n

"We watch endless replays to come up with a decision and I feel they went with the wrong one there."<\/p>\n

The Fijians ended the first half 12-6 in front with tries from Maika Sivo and Kevin Naiqama, both converted by Brandon Wakeham.<\/p>\n

\"Kangaroos<\/p>\n

New Zealand pulled a try back late in the half when Ronaldo Mulitalo touched down and Rapana converted as they struggled to impose themselves on the game.<\/p>\n

Naiqama scored his second try early in the second half but New Zealand quickly replied through Briton Nikora.<\/p>\n

Joseph Manu's try and a third conversion from Rapana meant it was all to play for with 15 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/sydneyroosters\/status\/1589007186466045952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"There's a lot of pride behind these jerseys \u2014 heritage, culture, family \u2014 especially with the Pacific Island nations," Manu said. "That's why Fiji turn up, and also us, too.<\/p>\n

"It was always going to be a body-on-the-line sort of game. It was awesome. It was good to see one of those matches. From a fans' point of view I guess it was nice to see a close match, but from a players' point of view it was really tough and fatiguing."<\/p>\n

New Zealand and Australia, winners of the last nine World Cups, will meet on Friday in Leeds.<\/p>\n

England coach Shaun Wane described the first half-hour against PNG as the finest of his coaching career.<\/p>\n

England completed 13 straight sets and led 38-0 after 24 minutes. The Kumuls rallied to avoid total humiliation in front of a crowd of 23,179 which included the Princess of Wales.<\/p>\n

Makinson added five conversions to his five tries \u2014 an England World Cup record \u2014 to finish with 30 points.<\/p>\n

"I do genuinely believe that we can get better," Wane said. "Our start was faultless."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand confirmed a semifinal showdown with Australia at the Rugby League World Cup only after surviving a major scare from Fiji on Saturday. Jordan […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249214,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249212\/revisions\/249214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}