Australia triumphed, but Fiji – and especially their five-eighth Kurt Donoghoe – were the real winners.
The Kangaroos survived an almighty scare against Fiji on Sunday night when they prevailed 36-22 at Suncorp Stadium.
The Roos were largely out-enthused by the Bati who were still pushing for a miracle win late in the second half.
Most of the 41,108 fans who turned up on a humid night in the Queensland capital were expecting the Roos to run riot.
Tom Trbojevic’s hat-trick helped Australia sneak past Fiji.Getty Images
Bradman Best, Sam Walker, David Fifita and Blayke Brailey were all making their debut in the green and gold, while coach Kevin Walters had one of the best six-man benches ever assembled, but only used three reserves, and kept Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Latrell Mitchell all fresh for next Saturday’s clash against the Cook Islands in Townsville.
Australia will want to use that game to blow out the last of the rust and get serious about their World Cup campaign.
They got the job done against New Zealand last week courtesy of some Jack Bostock aerial theatrics, a couple of intercept tries, and Reece Walsh X factor.
Against Fiji, James Tedesco ran the ball on the last just before half-time to give Australia a 12-10 lead they did not deserve, while Trbojevic bagged a hat-trick in the space of 15 minutes to all but seal the result.
Trbojevic, however, would have been frustrated knowing Fiji targeted his right side, with Donoghoe setting up Semi Valemei for his own treble.
The win over Fiji means they will now play their semi-final in a fortnight’s time, on November 8, in Sydney.
At one stage early in the second half, when Fiji were playing with spirit, and could sense a boilover against the top-ranked rugby league nation, there was plenty of confusion and activity on the Roos’ bench. In the end, ‘Turbo’s’ tries restored the peace.
Whether Walker or Tom Dearden should partner Munster in the halves is no clearer. Tedesco was also excellent, which makes for a fascinating No. 1 battle given Walsh’s outstanding performace against the Kiwis.
Sam Walker celebrates his first try for the Kangaroos.Getty Images
Fiji were winning the physical battle and making plenty of metres through the middle of the field at the start of the game, despite coughing up the ball on three seaprate occasions.
But Tedesco spotted some tiring defenders on the last tackle, sprinted past some defenders, found Walker who found Trbojevic who passed to Walker to score.
A lovely ball from Tedesco put Kotoni Staggs into space for the opening try after ten minutes.
A Trbojevic handling error inside his own half allowed the visitors to go on the attack, and they were over a minute later when Donoghoe floated a brilliant ball for Valemei for his first.
Fiji then took the lead when Brandon Wakeham’s grubber sat up perfectly for Taane Milne.
There were no injuries for Australia but Cam Murray did need a head injury assessment, which he passed, only to be given a rare spell with ten minutes remaining.