Fiji Bulikula

The match, which was played on an afternoon in which temperatures reached 30°C at the Santos National Football Stadium Port Moresby, ended a four-year wait between games for Fiji and was Samoa's first outing since 2020.

Despite having much less experience in their squad than Samoa – whose side included dual-code international Niall Williams-Guthrie, Maroons hooker Destiny Brill and former Kiwi Fern Annetta-Claudia Nu'uausala – it was Fiji who got off to the better start. 

The side have settled well in PNG and will be having a few more training sessions before the one-off Test against Samoa.

The Josaia Dakuitoga-coached side trained under hot conditions on Monday, but faced windy and rainy weather on their second day of training on Tuesday. The side had another session yesterday before heading to the gym.

Dakuitoga is assisted by Asaeli Saravaki and former Fiji Bati mentor Shane Morris. Fiji takes on Samoa at 2.45pm.

NRL.com reported that the Fijian women’s national side, named after the golden cowrie shell, raced out to a 12-0 lead in the first half of the 2019 Pacific Test with two converted tries.

It was a disastrous start for the Orchids from the opening kick-off with confusion under the high ball handing Fiji an early opportunity to attack.

The Bulikula created a healthy overlap on the right edge to send Roela Radiniyavuni over for a 4-0 lead.

Fiji halfback Patricia Raikadroka made the sideline conversion look easy with a monster kick sailing over the black dot.