The Flying Fijians' grand plan that toppled England: 'Just play like a Fijian'
Fiji celebrated one of their greatest-ever achievements on a rugby field over the weekend, dropping England in spectacular fashion at one of rugby’s great cathedrals, Twickenham.
The win was the first time a Pacific nation has toppled the English, while lifting the Fijians above England in World Rugby’s rankings.
It’s never easy for Fiji and the second-tier nations to compete with the better-funded and better-established teams, but this win reminds the world just what can be achieved when a team with talent has the opportunity to train together for an extended period.
Outside of World Cup years, the Flying Fijians are only able to get together for brief intervals.
“This is our eighth, going into our ninth week together and just that time’s been incredible,” Fiji assistant coach Daryl Gibson told SENZ Breakfast.
“I’ve been with the team four years, and we get July and November, three weeks in July and three weeks in November.
“So we’ve been hanging out for this moment where we get the boys together for an extended period of time.”
A demanding training camp over that period has pushed the players’ fitness to the heights needed to compete with tier-one teams. A team trip to the outer islands gave the players a chance to connect and train as a team while reconnecting with the culture and people they represent after long club seasons overseas.
A huge advantage Fiji have in this campaign compared to those previous is the development of the Fijian Drua in Super Rugby Pacific.
“Obviously the Drua are second-year professionals now, and I think again it just highlights if you give the boys the right environment where they can train and be as professional as they can, what you can do. They’ve proven they can make it.
“That two-year period has really closed the gap. Previously, we’d get our boys back from Europe who are all in professional clubs and they would be at a much higher level than our boys from the islands. That’s changed now.
“The Drua boys approach the game professionally, they’ve trained professionally, they know what it’s about.
“That goes to making us a stronger squad and given the time we now have with them, you can actually see that they’re improving every day.”
Time is not always a friend to the Pacific nation teams, neither is game time.
Prior to the weekend’s clash against Ireland, Manu Samoa had played just 14 Test matches since the last Rugby World Cup in 2019, and only one of those was against a tier-one nation in Italy.
Compare that to England who have played 13 Tests in the last nine months alone.
More opportunity to play high-level games is essential in the development of the Pacific teams, but that doesn’t mean adopting the more conservative tier-one style of play.
“We’ve all got our different strategies, we’re certainly approaching it that we want to play a style of game that is uniquely Fijian. We want to retain that identity and not turn the boys into a clone of a tier-one nation.
“We’re really, really careful around making sure that all those things are retained and encouraged.
“I know it sounds funny but one of our things that we say to the boys all the time is ‘just play like a Fijian, go out there and have fun, keep a smile on your face and we’ll see where that gets us.’
“If you look at Samoa and Tonga, they approach the game in a similar way. Their DNA is typically thicker, physical, big contacts, big collisions.
“You can see the game at the moment is being dominated by big teams, big collisions, and the team that wins that, at the moment is dominating rugby.
“So, I think it’s going to be a fascinating World Cup in terms of what style comes through and actually wins.”
Comments on RugbyPass
What a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
40 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
40 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to comments