OSAKA, Japan (AP) — Fiji overwhelmed Japan from a 10-10 halftime deadlock to win an energetic Pacific Nations Cup final 41-17 at Hanazono Stadium on Saturday.
Fiji wore down the fast-starting Japanese with weight and speed and with impact off the bench, scoring five tries — two more were disallowed — for a record-extending sixth PNC title, and first since 2018.
The defense was also special. For the only time in five PNC matches, Fiji conceded points in a second half, less than three minutes from fulltime, to wing Malo Tuitama who scored Japan's second try.
“We just had to stay in there, work really hard to set ourselves up in the second half by maintaining really good pressure in that first half,” first-year Fiji coach Mick Byrne said.
After early penalty kicks, Japan center Dylan Riley scored a brilliant solo try by cutting inside three defenders and collecting his own chip.
Counterpart Inia Tabuavou then had a try chalked off by a knock-on in the buildup, but Fiji eventually tied the score against the run of play when Harumichi Tatekawa's grubber kick rebounded off Eroni Mawi, Tabuavou hacked ahead, and wing Vuate Karawalevu won the race to the ball.
Fiji started the new half with a man advantage while Japan hooker Mamoru Harada was sin-binned. Standout flyhalf Caleb Muntz had a try disallowed because of obstruction but his 56th- minute penalty gave Fiji the lead for the first time.
The Fijian pack was on a roll and Japan was struggling to contain it. With defenders dragged in by Fiji's pick and goes, there was space out wide and Fiji used it.
Replacement and Olympic sevens silver medallist Ponepati Loganimasi finished a try on his test debut then Tabuavou was tackled into touch in the right by Tuitama. But a minute later, Fiji was in again through replacement forward Albert Tuisue.
Fiji crossed twice more in the next eight minutes, Loganimasi's offload released Karawalevu for his second try, then Loganimasi broke from a midfield ruck and stepped the last defender for try number two.
Muntz, the player of the tournament, kicked six from six and let Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula convert their last try.
Tuitama gave Japan some consolation with the last converted try but the hosts lost to Fiji for the sixth time in their last seven contests.
For third place, Samoa beat the United States 18-13 with a 77th-minute try by Melani Nanai.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Fijian players celebrate scoring a try against Japan during the second half of the final at Pacific Nations Cup rugby match in Higashi Osaka city, Osaka prefecture, western Japan, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.(Kyodo News via AP)
BOGUE CHITTO, Miss. (AP) — Powerful storms that included at least three tornadoes tore through several Mississippi counties, damaging around 500 homes, uprooting trees and injuring at least 17 people, authorities said Thursday.
There were no immediate reports of deaths after storms cut across the state's southwest on Wednesday night, said Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
He said 12 of those hurt were transported from a hard-hit trailer park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, about an hour's drive south of the state capital in rural Lincoln County.
Most of the two dozen homes at Gene’s Mobile Home Supply were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal. People picked through the debris Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chainsaw buzzed in the background.
“I was just watching TikTok on my bed and thought it was thunder. I went to my living room. I went back to my room, and the room’s gone,” resident Max Mahaffey told WAPT-TV.
He said he wasn't injured, but his grandmother hurt her ankle and some of his neighbors suffered cuts and bruises.
One intact trailer lay flipped on its roof near the tree line. Several cars, some with hazard lights blinking, appeared to have been picked up by the storm.
“We know there were at least three tornadoes,” said Daniel Lamb, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office in Jackson.
“The same storm produced at least two tornadoes from Franklin, Lincoln into Lawrence counties, and then there was another one from Lamar possibly into Forest County.”
He said there may have been more. “Those are just the ones that we are able to confirm by radar before even having gone down there.”
“Pray for Mississippi,” Gov. Tate Reeves posted online, saying the state Emergency Management Agency was coordinating response efforts.
Many roads were still blocked in Lincoln County and teams from the agency were assessing the damage.
“We ask that you please refrain from sightseeing as crews are working,” the department posted early Thursday.
The governor said a volunteer rescue group was providing a 50-person shelter pod, a high-powered generator and 10 pallets of supplies to the county, which reported at least 200 damaged homes.
Lamar County to the southeast reported about 275 homes damaged, according to the state emergency management agency. Another 10 to 12 homes were damaged in Lawrence County.
More storms were expected Thursday with the possibility of tornadoes across parts of Alabama, Georgia and Florida, the weather service said. Strong storms also were possible for parts of the Carolinas and Texas.
McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
In this frame grab from video taken by WDAM, damaged trees and a house or structure following a storm that tore through part of Lamar County, Mississippi, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (WDAM via AP)
