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With the July international window still to come, Fiji have officially announced their autumn fixtures, which will see them meeting England, France and Spain.
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The Pacific side’s tour will start in England, where they will face Steve Borthwick’s outfit on November 8, before heading to France to play the Les Bleus on the 15th of the same month. Spain will have the pleasure of hosting Fiji for the third time in the last four years, but there is still no date for this clash.
The Fiji Rugby Union have not specified in which venues the games will take place, with chief executive officer Rovereto Nayacalevu making the following statement for the union’s official website:
“Playing against the best teams on a yearly basis, especially at the end of the year, is incredibly beneficial for teams like Fiji.
“With the 2027 Rugby World Cup on the horizon, these high-calibre matches are crucial for our preparation and development.”
Fiji have defeated England only once before – in a match played just before the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup, with then-Fiji head coach Simon Raiwalu’s side earning a sensational 30-22 at Twickenham. England would get payback a month later in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
France and Fiji have met twelve times, with the European side leaving as the winner from all contests except one. In 2018, the Fijians defeated the locals in a sensational 21-14 contest played in the Stade de France.
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Regarding the Leones’ challenge, Fiji have won the previous two encounters against them, but the gap has been narrowing down since their first game in 1999.
In the 2024 Autumn Nation Series, the Fijians managed to beat Wales in Cardiff for the very first time and triumphed over Spain, but had no success in their games against Scotland and Ireland.
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Decent set of fixtures! Although it is a shame that they have to come all the way to Europe to play tier 1 opponents - when the dreadful nations league thing comes into play it will be genuinely absurd to se Fiji play England, Ireland, France, Wales, Scotland, and Italy twice per world cup cycle, but not have any guaranteed fixtures against New Zealand or Australia.