Samoa and Fiji make history in comeback thriller

v BYE

History was made in Apia when Samoa hosted their first ever test match on home soil but for all the history the result didn't go their way with Fiji securing a 20-18 comeback victory at Apia Park.

The game which was arguably the biggest in the history of Samoan rugby league was marked with a kick off by the Samoan Education and Culture minister before the game was underway for real. The Samoan's put the Fijian defence to the sword early on and it looked as if it was going to be a long day for the Bati with Sam Kasiano scoring early on through some flimsy defence from the Fijians. 

Ken Maumalo then got the first of his two tries for the afternoon when he had too much strength for the weakened left defence from Fiji and with a great finish he extended the lead to 10-0 before Matt Wright put in one of the conversions of the season to extend the lead to 12-0. The second try of Maumalo wasn't as spectacular as his first but being in the right spot at the right time saw him collect the ball and score close to the posts.

Fiji then struck back with 13 minutes remaining when Marcelo Montoya was on the end of a good ball from Brayden Williame and scored out in the corner to close the gap to 18-4.

The Fijians closed the gap yet again when James Storer crossed the line with 4 players trying to stop him and Gerard Sutton in perfect position pointed to the spot and the Fijians were back within 8. On the stroke of half time the lead then closed to two points when Brayden Williame crossed to score and after the conversion the Fijians trailed by 2.

The second half saw both sides pay for a high energy opening 40 minutes and ball security was almost non-existent and points were hard to come by but it was again Samoa who created all the opportunities until it was Tyrone Phillips who pinched a loose pass and raced 100m to score the only points of the half and set up the win for the Fijians.

Both sides tried to add more points but the ball security let both sides down and neither side could turn it into points and despite desperate efforts the scores didn't change and Fiji scored a historic victory