Fiji’s brilliance at the turnover, combined with the clinical boot of Kuruvoli, saw them pick up their first win of the tournament after last week’s defeat by Wales.
Australian full-back Ben Donaldson was opportunistic early on and punished a Fiji high tackle when he converted the first opportunity of the game to give Australia a 3-0 lead after three minutes.
The Pacific Islanders sought a response through scrum-half Kuruvoli, who tied the score before converting another penalty to give his side a 6-3 lead after 20 minutes.
The first try of the game came in the 22nd minute through Mark Nawaqanitawase. The winger chased the long ball, took a quick line-out and combined with Samu Kerevi before he received the offload to add five more to to Australia’s tally.
But the Wallabies’ hard work started to unravel through ill-discipline and they started to concede needless penalties, much to the delight of Kuruvoli who added six more and the half ended 12-8 in favour of the Fijians.
Fiji extended their lead when Carter Gordon misjudged the bounce of a high ball which invited Josua Tuisov to storm through and make it 19-8 in the 42nd minute.
Suliasi Vunivalu went over late on for Australia after Fiji scored another penalty but it was not enough and they held on to complete a memorable 22-15 victory.