BEST buddies, Metuisela Talebula and Joji Ragamate combined well on field to help the Digicel Fiji sevens team thrash a hapless Zimbabwe 40-0 in their opening pool match at the Glasgow 7s tournament in Scotland last night.
Playmaker Talebula and new (run-on) halfback Ragamate have grown up playing rugby together in Lautoka and yesterday they showed how lethal their combination was on field. Zimbabwe made a good start and was impressive with ball on hand but they failed to breach a tough Fiji defence, which stood tall throughout the match to avoid conceding any points.
The Alifereti Dere-coached side took almost four minutes to cross the whitewash and Talebula's eye for gap gave Fiji a 7-0 lead midway the opening spell.
The former Natabua player spotted the gap in Zimbabwe defence and cleverly placed a grubber kick before neatly picking it up and dotting it under the post.
Ragamate followed the cue and scored a brilliant try, beating three Zimbabwe defenders, before Joeli Lutumailagi scored in the corner to give Fiji a 21-0 lead at break.
Hard-hitting Waisea Nayacalevu made a good start to Fiji's second half campaign followed by a brace from Talebula which sealed the 40-0 win.
Newcomer, Niko Verekauta also got a chance to break the sweat but was unable to score his debut try in his first-ever International Rugby Board 7s Series match.
Fiji was to have its remaining matches against Portugal and Argentina early this morning.
Other Results - Wales 17 Scotland 14, Argentina 17 Portugal 5, New Zealand 31 Spain 5, Samoa 22 France 14.