15-8 to Samoa after the first quarter. Kristiana Manu’a was several levels above everyone else, retrieving so much possession and carrying the ball through nicely. Wouldn’t be surprised if she got player of the match (or even player of the tournament, we’ll obviously have to wait to see Tonga).
Both sides have HEAPS they could address, for Samoa I think it’s about consistency and using their feet and speed better to get to feeds that have no doubts – Naqiri (Fiji GK) doesn’t really have to try too hard some of the time, she’s got really long arms and good reflexes, and I think the Samoan GS actually is being fed when she’s not setting up or ready (for her part, she can work on being more active to give something definite but I think it’s the feeders rushing at the moment).
For Fiji, just short sharp passing to a player driving front as the default in through court play would help no end. The lobs are picked off way too often, but the front option doesn’t happen and the vision or reset isn’t there either. That being said, Fiji does do well with quick transition and getting over a zone defence, and they are winning a fair amount of gains.
A couple of weird plays show the players don’t necessarily know each other that well, and even the umpires had a few funny calls that I could see even with a replay. I don’t think these particular umpires are used to the movement and footwork of these players. The players are doing centre passes and even throw ins in ways that look unnecessarily unbalanced to my eyes.
Looks like Fiji made quite a few changes part way through the second quarter, Nawai is on at GK and there’s a new C for sure, hard to keep up from this distance. FYI substitutions aren’t “rolling”, but can be done at centre passes. Samoa got out to 23-10 at one point, but it ended up at 30-17.
