Fiji's win over Maori All Blacks should have Wales and Australia on high alert
On Saturday afternoon, Fiji played their first match of the year and unequivocally announced that their World Cup opposition will need to be at the top of their game to knock over the island nation later in the season.
Fiji dispatched the Maori All Blacks with relative ease, building a 12-0 score at halftime and pulling ahead to 22-0 before ultimately triumphing 27-10.
It was Fiji’s first win over the Maori in over 60 years.
World Cup old foes
Prior to the match there was already talk that Fiji could perhaps upset Wales or Australia at the World Cup – teams that Fiji also played in the last iteration of the competition.
Australia’s recent failures have been well-documented. Last year the former world champions mustered just four wins from their thirteen matches. Their Super Rugby sides have also under-performed in recent times.
Wales have been more resolute in the last few years, claiming a grand slam in this year’s Six Nations competition. The Warren Gatland-coached side once struggled to put away southern hemisphere teams, but have won their last seven on the trot – including three victories against South Africa.
No run-away victories in recent years
Wales’ two previous encounters against Fiji have been close affairs. At the last World Cup, Wales managed a 23-13 win at the Millennium Stadium. One year prior, they recorded a 4-point win at the same venue. When Wales and Fiji do battle in 2019, Wales won’t have the benefit of playing in front of their home crowd – though countless Welsh fans will no doubt make the trip to Oita for the match.
Australia haven’t struggled quite as much against Fiji in recent years. In 2017, the Wallabies notched a 37-14 win in Melbourne whilst the result at the 2015 World Cup was much the same, with Australian running away 28-13 victors.
Still, Fiji have had considerably more professional rugby in recent times. The Fijian Drua emerged as champions of Australia’s National Rugby Championship in 2018 (the Drua’s first year in the competition) and the Fijian Latui have already played four matches this year against Samoa and the Western Force.
Saturday’s victory over the Maori All Blacks has now reinforced the belief that the Pacific Islanders could actually book a place in the World Cup quarter-finals at the expense of Australia or Wales.
Maori at a low point
It should first be noted that the Maori side that ran out over the weekend was a fair bit weaker than what we’ve come to expect.
The Maori side which was squashed by the British and Irish Lions in 2017 included eight All Blacks in the starting side, with the other seven players all having ample experience at Super Rugby level.
The team which ran out against Fiji boasted just two All Blacks in the match-day squad: Tyrell Lomax, whose sole appearance was against Japan, and Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, who has clocked up minimal minutes over the past two seasons.
Regardless, the Maori All Blacks went into the match as favourites (at least according to the bookies) and the magnitude of Fiji’s first victory over the Maori since 1957 shouldn’t be discounted simply due to the lesser quality of their opposition.
Champagne rugby, through and through
The win was important, there’s no doubt about it – but it’s the way that Fiji played that should really be striking fear in the hearts of Welsh and Australian fans.
The Fijians showed their typical sort of reckless abandonment with throwing backdoor passes and one-handed offloads. Sometimes, these passes didn’t come off – and Fiji may find themselves victims of a number of unfavourable TMO calls when they hit the big time in Japan – but more often than not their ability to keep the ball alive kept the Maori side scrambling.
The sideline was Fiji’s enemy, going to ground was Fiji’s enemy, giving possession to the opposition was Fiji’s enemy – the islanders held onto the ball and simply out-ran and out-played the Maori All Blacks.
The whole Fijian backline was big and pacey, whilst the forward pack was strikingly similar. Captain Dominiko Waqaniburotu led the team well and kept his side’s discipline in check. Midfielder Levani Botia was probably the standout for Fiji – he was a constant threat over the ball when the Maori were in possession and delivered some silky passes to his outside runners.
All in all, this is an impressive Fiji side.
‘Home’ advantage
The climate will also better suit Fiji when they come up against Wales and Australia later this year. Japan will be incredibly humid during the World Cup, there’s no doubt about it.
The island teams will adjust much quicker than sides like Georgia and Wales to what will be one of the hottest World Cups on record – and this will give them a huge advantage over some of their opposition. Already teams are trying to prepare for the heat and humidity by training away from home, in climates closer to what they’ll experience in Japan than what they’re accustomed to in Europe.
Fiji will have to do no such thing.
2019 will see Fiji having a relatively favourable draw compared to the last World Cup. In 2015, Fiji faced England, Australia and Wales one after another, over a two-week period. This year, Fiji’s games against Australia and Wales bookend their draw, with matches against Uruguay and George in-between. The tightest turn-around they face is four days – but that’s between their games against the Wallabies and Uruguay, which won’t cause too much concern for Fiji coach John McKee.
The Fijian team are always a dangerous side to come up against during a World Cup when the squad has access to all its players from across the globe. With greater numbers of Fijian player getting professional football across the board and the team already looking as sharp as a knife, Wales and Australia better watch their back when they come up against the island side at this year’s showpiece tournament.
Check out RugbyPass’ latest documentary, on Fijian superstar Nemani Nadolo:
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments