Australia 54-6 Fiji: Valentine Holmes scores six tries as Kangaroos reach final
Winger Valentine Holmes followed up his five-try feat against Samoa with a six-try haul against Fiji to propel Australia into the World Cup final.
Match stats: Australia 54-6 Fiji
Australia tries: Slater (14,48), Holmes (17,25,41,52,66,76), Gagai (31,71)
Conversions: Smith (15,18,32,42,49,53,67)
Fiji tries: Vunivalu (60)
Conversions: Koroisau (6)
Match report
Winger Valentine Holmes followed up his five-try feat against Samoa with a six-try haul against Fiji to propel Australia into the World Cup final.
The 22-year-old Cronulla full-back or winger took his try tally for the tournament to 12 as the Kangaroos put the Fijians to the sword with a 54-6 rout in the first semi-final in front of a 22,073 crowd in Brisbane.
Holmes' remarkable effort enabled him to equal New Zealander Hugh McGahan's Test match record of six tries set in 1983. Veteran full-back Billy Slater touched down twice to take his total in World Cup tournaments to 16 and pull two clear of his former team-mate Jarryd Hayne, who had an ineffective game for Fiji.
Australia's other winger, Dane Gagai, also grabbed a brace as just three players scored tries for Mal Meninga's men, who made it 12 World Cup wins in a row and will now await the winners of Saturday's second semi-final between England and Tonga.
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Fiji had failed to score in either of the two previous semi-finals against Australia but scrum-half Api Koroisau at least prevented a hat-trick of whitewashes by kicking a seventh-minute penalty to give his side the lead.
Sadly for the romantics, that was as good as it got for Mick Potter's men who had kept New Zealand try-less in the quarter-final but leaked 10 tries to the rampant Kangaroos, who have conceded just 16 points in five matches.
Australia showed their danger when second rower Matt Gillett broke through the Fiji defence early on only to send the final pass into touch but Slater put them in front in the 13th minute when he supported a break by stand-off Michael Morgan.
Smith, making a record 16th World Cup appearance, kicked the first of his seven goals and the freescoring Holmes put the Kangaroos in control with two tries in eight minutes, the first following a pinpoint crossfield kick from Smith and the second from a simply-worked overlap.
There was no way back for the Fijians when Gagai went over for the Australians' fourth try nine minutes before the break when it was 22-2 and Holmes completed his hat-trick 90 seconds into the second half after intercepting Kevin Naiqama's pass to go 90 metres for an opportunist score.
Slater went over straight from a scrum to double his tally but Fiji winger Suliasi Vunivalu halted the one-way traffic when went over for his ninth try of the tournament, becoming the first player to score points against Australia in their last 10 matches.
When Holmes went over for his fourth try, it took him past Wendell Sailor's World Cup match record of 10 set in 2000 and he went on to add two more to make an indelible mark on history.
Match reaction
Australia captain Cameron Smith on his side reaching the World Cup final: "In our first three matches we had a different line-up every time and it was always going to be a bit clunky for us.
"We've found bit of continuity now over the last two weeks. There were still a couple of patches in the game where we lost our way a little bit but our completion rates are good and the defence is going good.
"I was really pleased with the effort, we just need to continue that next week."
Valentine Holmes, who scored six tries six to equal the Test match record set by New Zealand's Hugh McGahan in 1983: "Big credit has to go to this team. I'm loving this World Cup and very happy to make the final. We didn't start the game too well but we came good."
Fiji captain Kevin Naiqama: "It was a great opportunity for us to progress into the final but Australia were too good for us. But we've really enjoyed this campaign and put Fiji on the map."
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