Rugby World Cup: Wallabies satisfied with Fiji win and not thinking bonus points

FOUR wins is more important than four tries - that was the message from the Wallabies camp after they missed pocketing a bonus-point against Fiji at the RWC.

Australia's players celebrate after their number 8 David Pocock (2nd L) scored a try during a Pool A match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup between Australia and Fiji at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, south Wales, on September 23, 2015. AFP PHOTO / DAMIEN MEYER RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE, NO USE IN LIVE MATCH TRACKING SERVICES, TO BE USED AS NON-SEQUENTIAL STILLS

FOUR wins is more important than four tries.

That was the message from the Wallabies camp after they missed pocketing a bonus-point against Fiji but rated their 28-13 win as the bigger step toward surviving their World Cup pool of death.

Two first-half tries from David Pocock and a third from Sekope Kepu just after halftime were enough for the Wallabies to get their tournament underway with a victory but they couldn’t score a fourth in the last 38 minutes of the game.

Such was the threat posed by Fiji, the Wallabies chose to kick a penalty with 10 minutes on the clock instead of pushing for a try.

It was scrappy but the Wallabies were still happy.

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The result left Australia without a four-try bonus point, which could potentially be crucial in the hotly contested pool A, where England, Wales and Australia are pushing for two playoffs spots.

The Wallabies sit third in the pool already after both rivals scored bonus points wins against Fiji and Uruguay respectively.

In reality, however, the bonus-point number crunching only becomes relevant if one of the three sides drops a game and that - according to Wallabies captain Stephen Moore - is not something that has been entertained, or planned for, in Wallaby-land.

“We honestly didn’t talk about bonus points during the week,” Moore said.

“Test footy and the World Cup is about winning. We showed that at the end where we went for the penalty rather than going to the corner. We respect Fiji a lot as an opponent and obviously you’d love to get a bonus point, but that certainly wasn’t a focus, We just wanted to win the game.

“If you lose a game in the pool stage you’re up against it, so we are just focusing on our next game now and making sure we play well against Uruguay on Sunday.

Sekope Kepu scores the Wallabies’ third try and it was their last five-pointer.

“We just want to win the game.”

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said he had to check if bonus points were even part of the World Cup,

“I’m new to Test footy, right, and international rugby, but for me, winning a Test match, that’s all you need to do and then move on to the next one,” Cheika​ said.

“I’m not counting points, I just want to win one game and then go on to the next game and try and win that.

​Flanker Michael Hooper echoed ​both, saying: “Winning is king. If you win four games, you’ll get through.”

After a late start to the tournament, Australia walked away from Cardiff with a mixed bag.

They secured a win and apart from concussion to James Slipper, did it without injury. David Pocock and Michael Hooper were superb, Israel Folau was busy, defence was outstanding and the set-piece was - by and large - strong.

The Wallabies allowed Fiji back in the game, however, with mindless kicking in the second half, lacklustre carrying into contact and a predictable one-out attack that neglected the chance to exploit tired Fijians by turning the ball back on the inside more often.

Given half an opportunity, Fiji rallied and made it a tougher fight for Australia than it needed to be.

“There’s lots to work on from that game,” Moore admitted.

“All in all I’m pretty positive about the performance and happy to start with a win. The guys are being waiting around the place and keen to get out there and I thought Fiji were a really tough opponent. It would be easy to underestimate that but they were terrific.”

Unpicking the line out problems in the second half, which saw Australia lose three in a row while in good attacking territory, will be a priority, according to Hooper.

“It was tough conditions. Millennium was really loud and credit to Fiji, they got in front of us and stole some ball. Going through review we will look at the drill in our line out and see whether it was the call or what, and go back to the drawing board there,” he said.

Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Wallabies satisfied with Fiji win and not thinking bonus points