43-29 after the third quarter. Although Samoa built a bigger lead of 17-18 at one point, I felt that some fatigue crept in for both body and brain, so they didn’t fall apart, they just let Fiji back in to an extent. Some of Samoa’s turnovers were especially painful at the end as they were right at the goal circle and almost unforced. Generally good defence throughout, lots of changes. I like some of the things we’ve seen from their new GA Naomi Solomona, she’s driving and front cutting and shooting well. This is connected no doubt to the new WA Sayonara Alaalatoa who despite being little seems to find acres of space and recognises good moments for strong cut and drive. Good variety and touch on the pass there.
Some spark generated by Lewatu, new at GA for Fiji, interesting footwork at times, and I definitely give respect to Rusivakula their GS, she is weathering the storm well and fairly consistently available and shooting fine, however sometimes not mixing things up, so she gets stuck on a front hold too long with no thought to drop back or sometimes not sure where to drive to.
Hard to know what the strong lineups for either team would be, this was a good tough first game and every player got enough of a chance to show what they can do and get a feel for it – for me the questions will be, as always for tournament play, who manages the fatigue and recovers well, player load and injury management, being able to react and improve within a quarter and not when being coached, and the slottability. I think that Nawai is making a big difference in leadership and experience at GK for Fiji, but she really wouldn’t be a option for an entire match at GD – it might work for a quarter.
During the 4th quarter Fiji started to show more of the spunk and flair that I’m used to from them. Their defence was turned up and created some confusion which was good to see. Pearls also have better timing in attack, as they’re now thinking and setting things up better and probably winning the fitness battle to an extent. They got to within 10 goals at 41-51.
All the players could sort out their flinging out of arms, it often seems to achieve nothing in the midcourt and the umpires will call whatever part of it they see which can actually be wrong. Some silly turnovers from Samoa near the end, poorly timed and executed passes, ignoring obvious leads, and Fiji building confidence which was nice to see. Fiji won the last quarter 16-11.
Plenty to ponder before tomorrow’s games! Samoa win 54-45, and most of that lead came from the first quarter.
