A change of venue due to strong winds failed to stop the Republic of Fiji Military Forces from beating the United Kingdom Defence Force 31-17 in the final to retain the International Defence Rugby Competition trophy in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday.

The strong winds saw the goalposts being blown away and the final was moved to GSDF Narashino Training Area (Rugby Field) in Tokyo.

RFMF senior team official Captain (Navy) Osea Natuva said they had to make last-minute adjustments because of the strong wind conditions.

RFMF led 17-3 at halftime with the captain, Sireli Ledua leading their forward rush to crash over and score their third try just before halftime.

The UKDF came out firing in the second half trying to pull the game out of the fire.

“During halftime the players were told to cut down on their handling error, work on their continuity and contest the set pieces,” Natuva added.

Impressive RFMF winger Gabrieli Matakiviwa showed his speed to score near the post with the conversion going over.

The UKDF never gave up with James Dickson kicking for territory deep into the RFMF territory. The forwards never stopped trying and from a forward rush saw Rob Powell scoring their first try with Dickson’s conversion going over.

RFMF came back strongly and scored their final try to Sitiveni Kunaga with the conversion going over.

Right on injury time, UKDF hit back with a try to Rob Parkinson with Dickson converting it.

Natuva hailed Matakiviwa indicating that he was one of their players who was in top form during the IDRC.

Edited by Sheldon Chanel

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