BURNABY, B.C. — Kini Murimurivalu and Malakai Ravulo scored tries three minutes apart in the second half Monday as Fiji defeated Samoa 39-29 in a wild final at the Pacific Nations Cup rugby tournament.
Leone Nakarawa had two tries of his own for Fiji, while Nikola Matawalu added another. Joshua Matavesi booted a penalty and four conversions.
Substitute Ben Volavola booted another penalty for the Fijians, who finished the tournament undefeated with a 3-0-1 record.
Faatoina Autagavaia had two tries for Samoa (2-1-1), while TJ Ioane added another. Michael Stanley booted four penalties and a conversion.
The countries tied 30-30 earlier in the tournament and there wasn't much to choose between the South Pacific rivals for long stretches of this one either.
Meanwhile, No. 12 Tonga beat No 13. Japan 31-20 in the third-place game, while No. 16 United States downed No. 18 Canada 15-13 for fifth place in the six-team event.
Down eight after halftime in the final, Samoa came out with more intensity after the break, with Ioane going over for a try in the 43rd minute that with Stanley's conversion cut Fiji's edge to 17-16.
Samoa then took the lead five minutes later when Autagavaia scored on an incredible run to make it 21-17 after the conversion was missed.
But Fiji came right back with Nakarawa's second try of the day in the 51st that made it 22-21 after another missed conversion.
The back-and-forth continued in the 55th minute, with Stanley hitting on a penalty to make it 24-22 for Samoa.
Fiji took the lead back in the 59th when Murimurivalu went over on another impressive move to make it 29-22 and added to the lead when Ravulo went over after Matawalu's run in the 62nd. Matavesi's conversion made it 36-24.
Autagavaia then scored his second try of the match for Samoa in the 69th minute to cut the deficit to seven after the conversion was missed.
But Fiji put the game out of the reach in the 77th minute with a Volavola penalty that made it 39-29.
Nakarawa scored the game's first try in the third minute, with Matavesi's conversion staking Fiji to an early 7-0 lead. Matavesi and Stanley then traded penalties in the 15th and 18th minutes before Matawalu scored Fiji's second try for a 17-3 advantage in the 20th after the conversion.
Stanley then added penalties in the 24th and 32nd minutes to chip away at the Fijian lead as Samoa trailed 17-9 at the half.
Halani Aulika, Fetu'u Vainikolo and Sonatane Takulua had the tries for the Tongans (3-1-0) in the third-place game, while Kurt Morath added two conversions and four penalties. Hendrik Tui had the only try for the Japanese (1-3-0), who got five penalties from Ayumu Goromaru.
AJ MacGinty's scored a late drop goal to go along with four penalties in the first half to lead the Americans (2-2-0) to fifth place. Nick Blevins scored the game's only try for winless Canada, while Liam Underwood booted two penalties and a conversion.
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press