Fiji’s women’s rugby league team beat France 54-6. It is their first World Cup. They are now in the semi-finals. They will play Australia in Sydney next Sunday.
At their first World Cup, Fiji’s Bulikula ran in eleven tries to beat France 54-6 at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast, sealing a place in the last four. Tahlia Marshall scored twice, taking her tournament tally to five; France replied through Stecy Bessiere early in the second half. Having pushed New Zealand’s Kiwi Ferns to an 18-12 finish in their opening match, Sereana Naitokatoka’s side now meet the world champions, Australia, in Sydney next Sunday.
The result caps a remarkable run for a country of fewer than a million people, and the women’s rise contrasts sharply with the same afternoon’s men’s fixture, in which the Fiji Bati were overwhelmed 78-0 by New Zealand. Critics of the tournament’s expansion point to precisely such lopsided scorelines; its defenders answer that the only way for emerging nations to close the gap is to keep facing the best. The Bulikula have just supplied the better argument.