Interim Vodafone Fijian Bati head coach Wise Kativerata praised his players for their effort despite losing 24-18 to New Zealand in the Rugby League World Cup quarterfinal in Hull, England, yesterday morning.

The young Bati side took the game to the star studded New Zealand side as they led for most part of the game.

Kativerata said the team had gone through a lot with head coach Joe Rabele falling sick and he had to step in the last minute.

Bati captain Kevin Naiqama who scored two tries in the encounter said it was a disappointing loss. The Bati’s other try was scored by Maika Sivo with Brandon Wakeham landing the three conversions.

“It hurts but like I said I’m real proud of these boys and New Zealand were real deserved winners and they really closed that game down. Too many errors cost us in the end. All that said and done, hope we did the nation of Fiji proud, the boys wore this jersey with pride.”

Bati first five Api Koroisau said this is the kind of game that is really hurtful.

“We put ourselves in a really good position against a great team like New Zealand just unfortunately we weren’t able to close it out.

“Obviously, we lost the game, and obviously the scoreboard sometimes doesn’t reflect the game, but at the end of the day if we were the better side we would have been able to finish that off.

“Maybe we played better for the majority of the game, but these guys were able to execute at the back end.”

Quarterfinal results: Australia 48-4 Lebanon, England 46-6 Papua New Guinea, New Zealand 24-18 Fiji

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