When Ireland checked in for their flight to the Gold Coast and hotel in Surfers Paradise, it was under the names of the Samoa squad. Even tournament organisers had not accounted for Andy Kelly’s heroes advancing beyond the pool stage. It was also a long time before reality struck in yesterday’s last four qualifier at Skilled Park and Fiji earned themselves the dubious pleasure of a crack at Australia in Sunday’s second semi-final in Sydney.

Ireland were typically brave, spirited and tenacious, but qualities that saw them edge past Samoa and Tonga proved insufficient against Fiji’s athleticism, skills and daring with ball in hand. Relative fledglings themselves with 16 years on the international stage, the NRL nous of Jarryd Hayne, the former Australia player, Akuila Uate, who confirmed his status as one of the most exciting wings in the Australian competition with a brace of sparkling tries, and Aaron Groom, an accomplished scrum half, steered the “Batis” past the dangerous Irish.

It took Hayne, the full back, a long time to recover from being skinned on his outside by Damien Blanch for the first of the Wakefield Wildcats wing’s two tries. When Scott Grix, the captain, attacked the Fiji line with relish for a further try, in response to Uate’s first touchdown, Ireland were only denied being level 12-12 at the break by Pat Richards, who has struggled with his goalkicking, striking a post with the conversion.

Kelly, the Ireland coach, said that his team defended for 70 per cent of the match, but until the 58th minute they had looked as comfortable as they had done absorbing the best that other Pacific island nations could throw at them. Fiji, though, were more persistent, penetrative and better organised. When after five consecutive sets of tackles, Jason Bukuya converted Fiji’s sustained pressure with their third try, Ireland were a spent force, with the influential Grix off the field having treatment to a cut head.

Wes Naiqama took out the insurance of a penalty goal to stretch the lead to 20-10, before Hayne and Uate added tries. Fittingly, though, Ireland had the last word through Blanch. Kelly, who has no club coaching job to return to, had little idea when the team will next play, although there are possible moves to include Ireland with Wales, Scotland and France in a competition to determine who will face Australia, New Zealand and England in a four nations series in 12 months’ time.

“There are various suggestions by the RFL but we’ve nothing definite yet. I’d just hope something is put in place quickly and it’s a viable competition,” Kelly said. “There’s another World Cup possibly in five years and that’s a good learning period for Ireland. If we can get regular international fixtures, I’m sure that we can go beyond what we’ve done this year.”

Scorers:

Fiji: Tries: Naiqama, Uate 2, Bukuya, Hayne. Goals: Naiqama 5.

Ireland: Tries: Blanch 2, Grix. Goals: Richards.

Teams:

Fiji: J Hayne; S Tadulala, W Naiqama, D Millard, A Uate; A Noilea, A Groom; O Sadrau, W Suka, I Vono, A Sims, S Koroi, J Bukuya. Interchange: J Storer, N Bradley-Qalilawa, S Tora, V Nauqe.

Ireland: M Platt; D Blanch, S Gleeson, S Littler, P Richards; S Grix, L Finn; E O’Carroll, B Beswick, G Haggerty, B Harrison, L Doran, S Finningan. Interchange: M McIlorum, K Fitzpatrick, G Corcoran, R Tandy.

Referee: A Klein (England).

* Tony Smith, the England coach, wants a northern hemisphere referee for Saturday’s semi-final against New Zealand in Brisbane. England’s three World Cup matches so far have been controlled by Australian officials and Smith was incensed with Tony Archer’s handling of the 36-24 loss to the Kiwis in the final group game. “There were three tries in our books that we think shouldn’t have been awarded. We’ve been told that two of them, if they had been referred to the video ref, wouldn’t have been given,” Smith said.