Les Cagous travelled to the Solomon capital with their confidence levels at a low after a series of disappointing performances at the recent French Overseas Territories Cup but made light of that to silence the thousands who had gathered at Lawson Tama Stadium with a vital 6-2 win.
With New Zealand in danger of pulling away from the pack after making an unbeaten start to Stage 3, both sides knew they would have to take something from today’s game to remain on the All Whites’ coat tails and New Caledonia coach Alain Moizan was relieved to have done so with such aplomb.
“We played very well, we were not so confident about coming here because we had some difficulties in our preparations, we had only 13 fit players,” the former France international said.
“We are very happy to have achieved a result like this in the Solomon Islands because it is a very hard place to play. We did not expect to score so many goals and that is a great boost for our goal average. It was important to do so because we knew New Zealand had scored a lot of goals against Solomon Islands and that could prove significant at the end of the tournament.”
Moizan’s men posted only one win from their four fixtures in Paris – that victory albeit being a 16-1 dismantling of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon – but Moizan expected to see an improvement upon the resumption of Stage 3.
“The Overseas Cup was hard for us because the France professionals cannot play and we have five of them. We are a different team with those players and they scored nearly all of our goals today.”
Winger Georges Gope-Fenepej, who is on the books of French Ligue 1 club Troyes, led the way with a hat-trick but it was Roy Kayara who got Les Cagous off to the best possible start, finding the net in just the eighth minute to stun the locals. The hosts quickly regrouped though and were back on level terms when Tutizama Tanito headed home a Joses Nawo cross in the 33rd minute.
It looked like it would stay that way until the break but Gope-Fenepej had other ideas, heading in Bertrand Kai’s well-flighted delivery to restore the lead on the stroke of half-time. The Bonitos again refused to lie down though and equalised for the second time just before the hour mark, the goal once again coming from a cross and header combination. It was Seni Ngava playing the role of provider on this occasion as Joses Nawo nipped in before Rocky Nyikeine to flick the ball over the advancing goalkeeper and just under the bar.
The match was then poised for a thrilling finale but Les Cagous ensured it would not be of the tight variety by notching four unanswered goals. The unfortunate Tome Faisi gave the visitors the initiative again with an own goal in the 77th minute before Gope-Fenepej added his second and substitute Jacques Haeko also got in on the fun. There was still time for another as the clocked ticked into injury time, Gope-Fenepej completing his hat-trick in the easiest manner possible after being presented with a tap in at the far post.
“It was very disappointing, especially with this game being at home. I think you can see from the faces of all the boys how disappointed they are,” Bonitos captain Henry Fa’arodo said.
“I think the better team won though, New Caledonia play really good football and have just come back from playing some good opposition in France. I think they wanted it a bit more than us today and we have to give them credit for that. They were very clinical and that’s the difference if you’re playing against a well-prepared team, they have the potential to pounce on any mistake you make. If you give them an inch, they’ll destroy you and that’s what they did to us today. It’s the sign of a good team.”
The third round of Stage 3 continues tomorrow with New Zealand looking to keep their winning run going away to OFC Nations Cup champions Tahiti at 8pm, Friday 12 October, local time.

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