Lachlan Jeffery reviews the opening match of Group B, between Australia and Fiji
SCOREBOARD
Australia 42
Tries: Josh Addo-Carr 2 (23, 67), Jeremiah Nanai (15), Angus Crichton (34), Latrell Mitchell (43), Harry Grant (53), James Tedesco (60)
Goals: Valentine Holmes 7 (16, 25, 36, 45, 54, 61, 68)
Fiji 8
Tries: Semi Valemei (3), Sunia Turuva (75)
MATCH REPORT
Embed from Getty ImagesAustralia have kicked off their World Cup defence with a comfortable 42-8 win over Fiji in front of 13,366 spectators at Headingley Stadium.
Cameron Munster was named player of the match, while Harry Grant also starred for the Kangaroos on debut.
It was Fiji who got off to the perfect start, scoring after just three minutes through Semi Valemei off the back of a perfect Sitiveni Moceidreke grubber to take a 4-0 lead.
Australia put a clunky opening behind them in the 15th minute as they got their opening try of the tournament through Jeremiah Nanai.
The Leeds crowd was brought to their feet in the 23rd minute as a shift left saw Josh Addo-Carr run 95m to score his first try.
Australia took an 18-4 lead to half-time after Angus Crichton ran over Brandon Wakeham to score his first try for the Kangaroos.
The break did nothing to slow them down as Munster put Addo-Carr away down the flank again, before setting up Latrell Mitchell next to the posts.
A 40/20 from Grant in the 53rd minute gave Australia further field position, before the hooker crossed for a try of his own.
James Tedesco marked his captaincy debut with a try on the hour mark, before Addo-Carr completed his double thanks to a Grant grubber minutes later.
Despite being comfortably behind on the scoreboard, Fiji never stopped fighting and rewarded with a try to Sunia Turuva four minutes before full-time.
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