Six takeaways from round two of the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2024

Home advantage held sway in round two of the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2024 with wins for Samoa and USA.

In the opening game of the weekend, Samoa extended their unbeaten record against Tonga in Apia to 20 matches, a run dating back to 1980, with a 43-17 victory.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, USA continued their recent dominance over Canada with a 28-15 win in Los Angeles. USA haven’t lost to Canada on American soil since 2013.

Here are six of things we learnt from the weekend.

POOL B SEMI-FINALISTS CONFIRMED

Canada’s 28-15 defeat to USA condemned them to a bottom place finish in Pool B and they will now contest the fifth-place play-off at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo, on Saturday, 14 September. Canada managed just the one losing bonus point from their two pool fixtures, having scored four tries in their round one 55-28 home defeat to Japan, which means the Brave Blossoms and USA, who have five points apiece, are guaranteed a top-two pool finish and a place in the semi-finals. The Pool B winner will be decided when those two teams meet at the Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Saitama Prefecture, Kumagaya City, on Saturday, 7 September.

In theory, all three teams in Pool A could still qualify for the semi-finals, although Fiji and Samoa are very much in pole position. To make it through to the last four, Tonga need to score four tries and win by at least 27 points, while denying Fiji any points from the game when they meet in Nuku’alofa next weekend. A 26-point victory of this nature might be enough depending on try difference.

A YEAR TO GET THINGS RIGHT

Canada’s ever-present record at Rugby World Cup came to an end when they failed to qualify for last year’s tournament in France. For a proud rugby nation that once made the quarter-finals in 1991, it was a new low and one they hoped would never be repeated, However, a good home win against Romania in July aside, there has been no apparent upturn in Canada’s fortunes and they are facing a race against time to get things right.

Next year’s edition of the Pacific Nations Cup will double as the region’s qualification tournament for Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027. With three places available and Fiji and Japan already qualified through their performances at France 2023, every team bar the one that finishes bottom will get a direct ticket to Australia. The loser will still get another opportunity through the South America / Pacific Play-off or through the Final Qualification Tournament. 

USA’S IRISH INFLUENCE RUNS DEEP

With principal points scorer and leading playmaker AJ MacGinty unavailable for the entire Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup campaign, another Irish-born number 10 took it upon himself to step up to the plate and deliver a game-controlling masterclass in the Men’s Eagles’ round two win over Canada.

Luke Carty, who qualifies to play for the USA through a New York-born grandmother, adapted every bit as well to the spotlight being thrown on him as his older brother Jack, the Ireland international. The 26-year-old produced one of his best starting performances for the Men’s Eagles, coming up with two assists, including a lovely chip and regather. The only thing missing was accuracy off the kicking tee, the  26-year-old missing three of his four conversion attempts.

SAVEA’S IN GOOD COMPANY

Ardie Savea will be joining some class acts when he hooks up with Moana Pasifika next season. Fellow number eight, Fine Inisi was head and shoulders above the rest of his Tongan team-mates and scored twice as the ‘Ikale Tahi, fleetingly, threatened a second-half comeback against a Samoan team stacked with Moana Pasifika talent. 

Scrum-half Melani Matavao picked up where he left off against Fiji with another quality display, right-wing Tuna Tuitama bagged his first international tries and Samuel Slade’s industry was rewarded with a 50-metre effort. Both Matavao and sevens superstar Tuitama recently signed contract extensions until the end of the 2026 season and that looks like a very shrewd bit of business from Moana Pasifika.

SAMOA NEED AN 80-MINUTE PERFORMANCE

In both of their pool matches Samoa established good leads but allowed the opposition back into the game. In round one, the four-time champions stormed into a 13-3 lead against Fiji and still led by a point at half-time. However, they fell away badly in the second half, conceding 27 unanswered points to lose 42-16. And against Tonga, Samoa looked set to rewrite the record books and beat Tonga by more than 50 points for the first time in history as they raced into a 29-0 lead after 46 minutes.

However, from the moment Izaiha Moore-Aiono barged his way over from close range in the 46th minute, Samoa did not score again until the flanker crossed for his second try six minutes from time. In the 26 minutes that elapsed between those scores, Tonga racked up 17 points thanks to Lotu Inisi’s brace and seven points from the boot of Pat Pellegrini.

WELCOME BACKS AND NEW CAPS

Former Brumbies fly-half Rodney Iona’s first test appearance for nearly two years was a successful one. The 33-year-old came on for his first Samoa cap since November 2022 with about half an hour to go and it looked like he’d never been away. The fly-half was assured with his exit play and mixed things up well in attack. USA flanker Cory Daniel was another who’d been away from test rugby for just as long, yet the wrestling convert made up for lost time by putting himself about in the hour he was on the field.

With 12 months still to go before Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 qualification kicks in, Pacific region teams have taken the opportunity to blood new talent in this year’s edition of the competition. Eleven players were handed debuts in round one and another seven got their first caps at the weekend as Tonga and USA made their belated entries into the competition.

Hooker Penisoni Fineanganofo and flankers Tupou Afungia and Siosiua Moala started for Tonga, while Tevita Ahokovi and Samuel Tuitupou debuted from the bench. USA replacement hooker Sean McNulty and American footballer turned prop Pono Davis got their first taste of life at the highest level after coming on in the final quarter.