SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Defending champion Fiji conceded a try after two minutes but countered with five of its own to take a bonus point Saturday from a 32-10 win over Tonga in the second round of the Pacific Nations Cup.
Tonga finished the match with 14 men after backrower Siosiua Moala received a second yellow card in the 68th minute which became a red card.
Fiji was able to gain surpluses of possession and territory in both halves to win a scrappy and ill-tempered match for its 11th win over Tonga in their last 12 meetings.
Later, Japan opened its campaign with a statement performance, scoring eight tries to two in a 57-15 win over Canada in Sendai, Japan. Canada had opened its campaign with a 34-20 win over the United States.
Japan led 17-10 after a tight first half but overwhelmed Canada in a second half in which it scored six tries. Backrower Amato Fakatava and winger Kippei Ishida scored doubles and Warner Dearns scored a try in his first outing as Japan captain.
“Canada really showed up in the first half and we were under a lot of pressure. I've got to thank the boys for coming out in the second half and putting up a good fight,” Dearns said. “I'm really happy to win my first game as captain.”
Japan was runner-up to Fiji in last year's tournament.
Fakatava scored the opening try after only three minutes. But Canada got into the match — as Japan conceded a succession of penalties — and scored through Sion Parry to level at 10-10. Dearns' try in the 38th minute allowed Japan to go to halftime with a seven point lead.
Japan took 14 minutes to score its first try of the second half through Fakatava but then ran riot with tries to fullback Sam Greene, backrower Ben Gunter, center Tomoki Osoda and Ishida who scored twice in the last few minutes.
Flyhalf Seungsin Lee landed eight of nine kicks at goal.
Tonga opened its Pacific Nations Cup campaign last weekend with a 30-16 win over Samoa and started strongly Saturday with an early try to scrumhalf Augustine Pulu.
After a penalty to Caleb Muntz, Fiji took the lead for the first time with a superb long-distance try finished by former All Blacks center Seta Tamanivalu. Winger Kalaveti Ravouvou scored during Moala's first absence in the sin-bin and by halftime Fiji led 17-10.
Fiji took time in the second half to extend its lead, frustrated by solid Tonga defense.
Captain Tevita Ikanivere scored in the 63rd minute from a cross-kick by Muntz and Taniela Rakuro added Fiji's final try five minutes later in a goalline scramble.
“We were a bit disappointed with our start. We talked about coming out in the first 20 and welcoming Tonga,” Ikanivere said. “We didn't start well but I'm grateful for the boys showing great spirit and getting the win.”
In the third and final preliminary round on Sept. 6, Fiji and Samoa play at Rotorua, New Zealand and the United States hosts Japan at Sacramento, California.
The top four teams will advance to the semifinals, and the playoff rounds are set to be played in the United States. Denver is hosting the semifinals and fifth-place playoff on Sept. 14 and Salt Lake City the third-place playoff and final on Sept. 20.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Canada's Tyler Ardron, center left, and Piers Von Dadelszen, center right, celebrate after defeating the United States in Pacific Nations Cup rugby match action in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific hopes regulators will be convinced this time that its $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern that it detailed for the second time Thursday will be good for the country.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected Union Pacific's initial application because regulators wanted more details about how the deal would affect the competitive balance between the five remaining major freight railroads and the impact on customers.
Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said the new application makes an even stronger case for the benefits of the merger that he believes would shave a day or two off the delivery time for many shipments because they would no longer have to be handed off between two railroads in the middle of the country. The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad projects that the merger could lead to shifting 2.1 million truckloads off the highway onto trains.
Vena said CSX and BNSF are already improving their operations to ensure they can compete ,and shippers will benefit from that if the deal is approved. Plus, he pointed out that since BNSF is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway it has the financial resources to do whatever is needed because Berkshire is sitting on nearly $400 billion cash.
“The first few years after this, it’s gonna be like one of those old 15-round boxing fights. Prices are gonna be used, the service is going to be used, everything. And I think the customer’s going to be the winner in all this while we knock down, drag it out, to see who can win and grow their market share,” Vena said.
But the STB established a high bar for major railroad mergers like this one around the turn of the century after past rail mergers snarled freight and led to prolonged disruptions while two railroads worked to integrate their networks. Now Union Pacific has to demonstrate that this deal will enhance competition.
Vena said he's confident the railroads can avoid the integration problems of past mergers because they will take it slow while listening to a new board of customers about the impact. Plus this would be a combination of two successful railroads instead of many deals of the past where one thriving railroad took over another nearly bankrupt one in disrepair.
The deal includes a provision that if the STB requires more than $750 million in concessions Union Pacific can consider walking away, but it won't automatically doom the deal, the railroads disclosed Thursday as they submitted a copy of their merger agreement. Norfolk Southern would be entitled to a $2.5 billion breakup fee if the deal falls apart.
Currently, Norfolk Southern and CSX serve the eastern U.S. while Union Pacific and BNSF serve the west, and the two major Canadian rails compete where they can with their tracks crossing Canada and extending into the United States and Mexico.
A merged Union Pacific would likely control nearly 40% of the nation’s freight, but the railroad said that currently BNSF delivers that much of the nation's freight. So the railroads said the deal would shift which railroad dominates the market but wouldn't dramatically change the competitive balance.
But competitors BNSF and CPKC railroads joined a new coalition Wednesday to highlight concerns that the deal could hurt shippers and eventually consumers if it leads to higher rates for companies that have few options besides rail to get their raw materials and deliver their products. The coalition also includes trade groups for chemical and agricultural shippers and the unions that represent engineers and track maintenance workers.
“This did not begin with a customer asking for a UP-NS merger to happen,” BNSF CEO Katie Farmer said. “It’s driven by Wall Street on the promise of a big shareholder payout. It will eliminate competition, raise costs for consumers, and destabilize the supply chain that powers the American economy.”
But the biggest rail union and hundreds of shippers have backed the deal that would cut the number of major freight railroads across America down to five.
Union Pacific has promised that every union employee who has a job with either railroad at the time of the merger will have a job for life although the workforce could still shrink through attrition if the number of shipments slows down. But UP sounded an optimistic note Thursday and predicted that more than 1,200 new jobs will be created by the third year after the deal to handle the increased freight.
Previously, the railroads predicted 900 new jobs. But the new traffic data the railroads analyzed from all the major freight railroads convinced executives that more job growth is likely.
If the STB accepts this new application, regulators will likely spend more than a year analyzing every aspect of the deal.
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FILE - A Norfolk Southern freight train rolls past the U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, in Clairton, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - A Union Pacific worker walks between two locomotives that are being serviced in a railyard in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Josh Funk, File)
