On Friday Night, Australia will look to continue their charge to the Rugby League World Cup Final with a clash against Fiji. Jarryd Hayne and his men just knocked off New Zealand across the ditch so they won't be pushovers. Continue reading for our Semi-Final preview below.
Semi Final: Australia vs Fiji
When: Friday, 10th November at 8:00pm (AEDT)
Where: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Australia Form Guide
Australia has cruised through the tournament so far with 4 straight wins. They kicked off the World Cup with an 18-4 victory over England and haven't looked back. They easily accounted for France and Lebanon in the other group matches as they scored 86 points to 6 allowed. Then in the Quarter-finals, they thrashed Samoa in Darwin 46-0. Valentine Holmes became the first Australian player to score 5 tries in a test and Michael Morgan also bagged a double. Throughout the tournament, the spine of Australia has been the key with the Melbourne Storm combination of Smith, Cronk and Slater. They'll be the key again for the Kangaroos against Fiji. They've also benefited from a forward pack that really hasn't been challenged yet.
Fiji Form Guide
Fiji is into their third straight World Cup semi-final and also meet the Kangaroos for the third time. They were fantastic against the Kiwis last game and amazingly kept them tryless in-front of a Kiwi home crowd. Fiji has shown they can both attack and defend in this World Cup. They're currently the top scoring team with 172 points (22 ahead of Australia). They've also scored the most tries with 32. But as they proved against New Zealand, they can defend a low total. The other Melbourne Storm story-line in this game is Suliasi Vunivalu. He meets his Storm team-mates in this clash and he leads the World Cup in tries (8) and. If Fiji are any change of an upset, he needs to find the try-line at least once. Jarryd Hayne is another talking point as he lines up against Australia for the first time. He'll be the key for Fiji in attack.
World Cup - Head to Head:
Australia has convincingly beaten Fiji in all five World Cup clashes since 1995. They've scored 284 points and allowed just 10 points.
1995: Australia defeated Fiji 66-0
2000: Australia defeated Fiji 66-8
2008: (Semi-Final): Australia defeated Fiji 52-0
2013: Australia defeated Fiji 34-2
2013: (Semi-Final): Australia defeated Fiji 64-0
Prediction
Australia has a dominant record against Fiji in World Cup history but Fiji should be able to turn their poor record around this Friday. Fiji hasn't lost at the World Cup so far and can challenge Australia in attack. Especially due to that fact Jarryd Hayne is now playing for Fiji. He played for Australia in the last semi-final against Fiji and scored a hat-trick. The win over New Zealand would have boosted their confidence of competing with the heavy-weights in Test Rugby League as well. So we'll back Fiji to get within 24.5 points at CrownBet. We can't see them beating Australia as the Kangaroos are still 6-0 against Fiji in the head to head. But this matchup should be closer than history suggests.
TIP: Fiji +24.5 - $1.95 at CrownBet
Enjoy the game and thanks for reading our 2017 Rugby League World Cup Semi-Final Preview.
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