Fiji hooker reveals extent of celebrations after France win

Fiji hooker Sam Matavesi has spoken about their historic 21-14 win over France and the celebrations that ensued afterwards.

Fiji had lost all of their previous nine encounters against Les Bleus, their last matchup coming in 2014. But tries from Semi Radradwa and Josua Tuisova and three penalties from Ben Volavola saw them register a famous win in Paris.

“In the game, we just got more confident, we had a couple of tries disallowed in the first half which, on another day, could have been given,” the 26-year-old told the BBC.

“I thought as a squad and as a team we put in an absolute shift and, on the day, we were the better team probably.”

And Matavesi, who plies his club trade with Green King IPA Championship side Cornish Pirates, has revealed the extent of the celebrations in the aftermath – “The party started at two and didn’t stop until about 10 in the morning.”

Matavesi said it featured plenty of Fijian grog (kava).

He paid tribute to his club coaches for putting him back on the international radar and is targeting further caps, particularly with the World Cup coming up in Japan next year.

“It’s an honour to play with Fiji and to be in and around those players. It’s special, what it’s done now is it makes you want more, you want that feeling again,” Matavesi said.

“With a World Cup on the horizon that’s something that you don’t want to get in your mind too much now, but it’s something that’s definitely there.”

Certainly his recent performances have done him no harm, his RPI score has jumped to 66, up 5.11% in the last week.

Matavesi’s would no doubt love to have his two brothers Joel and Josh, who are both at Newcastle Falcons, in Japan with him too. Centre Josh represented Fiji at the 2015 World Cup.

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