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A Fijian under-18 side has edged the New Zealand Schoolboys Barbarians by 15-10 in a thrilling contest at Jerry Collins Stadium in Wellington.
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The visitors completed a historic victory by holding out in the dying stages after staying in front on the scoreboard throughout the match. They played with flair and freedom, using the offload to open up the home side.
Fiji opened the scoring early with a penalty before striking on a kick return play that had the Barbarians caught short with a grubber kick to take a 10-0 lead.
The New Zealand Barbarians fought back into the match with a rolling maul try to reduce the deficit to 10-5 by halftime.
After finding the equalizer shortly into the second stanza, the Barbarians looked like they were taking control before a sniping run by the Fijian flyhalf from the base of the ruck caught them napping.
For the final 30 minutes, the Fijians held on with desperate defence as both sides missed opportunities with ball in hand.
The New Zealand Schoolboys Barbarians are a rep side made up of players who attended the New Zealand Schoolboys development camp earlier this month. From the camp, a New Zealand Schoolboys and New Zealand Schoolboys Barbarians are selected.
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The New Zealand Schoolboys ‘A’ side won their match against the Australian Barbarians comfortably in Brisbane by 55-31 after beating Tonga 54-0 last Thursday.
The New Zealand Barbarians lost their opening fixture to a tough New Zealand Maori under-18 side 21-20 before playing the Fijians.
