Relaxed, Fiji are the Brazil of rugby – so watch out if you see them smiling

Fiji‘s most-capped player Nicky Little has warned his former colleagues not to go into their shells when they tackle England in the opening game of the World Cup on Friday.
The Fijians have been working assiduously on beefing up their set-piece play with former Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke adding his expertise but Little, below, insists the Pacific Islanders’ best chance of a shock win is still to commit totally to their exhilarating running game.
“Listen, it never does any harm to have a stronger scrum and a more efficient lineout, I’m all for that,” says Little who won 71 Fiji caps in a 15-year Test career. “But we are never going to outplay England up front at Twickenham. That isn’t going to happen.
“What England would love Fiji to do is engage in a full-on forward battle But what England will fear most, and what will make them a little anxious, is if Fiji start running and handling and making the game as loose as possible. Fiji must do what England most fear.
“Fiji at their best are the Brazil of rugby, capable of extraordinary rugby but we have always struggled to produce it on demand. The mindset has to be right.
“It’s a difficult balancing act for Fiji because we only seem to play our best rugby when we are relatively relaxed and carefree but I would imagine the opening game of a World Cup, at Twickenham, could be a very fraught occasion.
“Fiji have got to fight the nerves and avoid tensing up. At the 2003 World Cup we only really produced our best in our final pool game against Scotland when it was all very simple. We either won or went home.
“The same happened in 2007 in France when, to be honest, we didn’t play very well in the early games although we scraped wins against Japan and Canada. Then in the final game we had no option but to win against Wales and the shackles came off and we saw the real Fiji.
“And that was pretty much the same against the Springboks in the quarter-finals when we had no option but to go for the win. What I particularly remember about those two weeks at the end of the tournament in France is the laughter and fun in training, it hadn’t really been there up to that point.
“If I can see Fiji smiling and laughing in training this week it will be a good sign”
Recapturing that spirit  of 2007 is undoubtedly the key for Fiji, who never came close to replicating it in New Zealand four years later where they bombed badly, a crushing 66-0 defeat against Wales in their final game putting the seal on a miserable campaign.
Since then they have recovered their poise and arrive at Friday’s game in very decent shape having lost only one game this summer and that was a close encounter with New Zealand Maori in Suva which they dominated before taking their foot of the gas.
Fiji took the Pacific Nations Championship in style, beating Samoa in the final and, although it is undoubtedly true that Samoa did not necessarily field their strongest team, Fiji also rested key players and experimented elsewhere. During that time they have risen to ninth in the world and they can rightly reflect there is no justice – or indeed common sense – in a World Cup draw that places four of the world’s top nine teams in the same pool. Never again should that be allowed to happen if World Rugby truly want to nurture a global game.
And although the Fijian Rugby Union will never be awash with money there have been welcome attempts to try to introduce some sort of incentive scheme.
Vodafone Fiji has pledged to put $350,000 into the players pot if they reach the quarter-finals and as a further gesture have this week kick started the process by placing $100,000 into the scheme by way of encouragement before the England game. That doesn’t go far among a squad of 31 but it’s a start.
They deserve something because Fiji are box office and have players who could, if they get the opportunity, light up the tournament. Nemani Nadolo is one such player and there are so many brilliant Fijian wings playing for various nations it is good to see one actually in the Fiji side itself. Fijian-born but raised in Australia, Nadolo’s career caught fire with the Crusaders after curious false starts in Europe with Exeter and Bourgoin. He’s a more than useful goalkicker as well as a proven try-scorer.
Vereniki Goneva is well known to us from his efforts on behalf of Leicester. Fiji tend to play him at centre these days and he possesses the strength, pace and craft to trouble the best, especially when opposition defenders have to concentrate on other dangerous runners such as Nadolo.
Goneva came to Europe early in his career and made his mark in Pro D2 in France with Colomiers and Tarbes before Leicester Tigers snapped him up. When he’s hot he’s hot and he tends to score tries in batches of three or four.
Nico Matawalu, who has joined Bath after three successful seasons at Glasgow, is another devastating runner on his day who has benefitted from the professionalism and focus of having to play in Europe. Within months of arriving at Glasgow he had improved his bench press from 70kg to 150kg without compromising his speed and flexibility and any defence taking their eyes off him for one moment may suffer. His half-back partnership with Ben Volavola, who has been earmarked as a possible successor to Dan Carter at the Crusaders, is going to be vital.
Up front it will be a holding operation. As Little says Fiji have got to box clever. While not wanting to fully engage the England pack they need to secure their own possession as much as possible and although their scrum is much improved their ‘banker’ is the high quality lineout possession from Leone Nakarawa.
In the backrow Dominiko Waqaniburotu is one of the sturdy forwards who is of immense value for Fiji, having learned his trade with Waikato and then emerged as a rock for Brive in the last three seasons. Lyon‘s Sakiusa Matadigo is another of that ilk and skipper Akapusi Qera also. Since suffering a career threatening ACL injury a few years back Qera has lost that pace which used to see him go toe-to-toe with the quickest backs, let alone forward rivals.
On whether this is the best-prepared Fijian team he has been involved with Qera said:
“This is the best coaching staff Fiji has ever provided going into a big tournament. It’s the best Fijian team, too, but we’ll only see how good we are when we play England. I have faith in my players and the management that if we come up with our A-game on the day, we can come up with some upsets. With this bunch of boys, I have faith in them that we can surprise the world.”
The Fijian skipper remains a resourceful and experienced presence in the backrow and the hope will be that an athletic bolter – perhaps Peceli Yato who has signed for Clermont – can come through with a breakthrough tournament.
Yato was much sought-after at Glasgow before the French giants swooped to secure his signature. In the front row Fiji need a number of solid players who have learned their trade mainly in France to bring that experience to bear.
Campese Ma’afu is the brother of Australia prop Salesi Ma’afu while a third brother Apakuka has played Sevens for Tonga which must be something of a multinational record for one family. Narbonne prop Sunia Koto is 35 but still playing well for Narbonne and will be appearing in his third World Cup while Talemaitoga Tuapati has been going well for Aix.
“I like what I am seeing so far but one worry would be fading in the final quarter,” concludes Little. “I can guarantee you England won’t be fading in the last 20 minutes and although we have worked hard on our conditioning it still worries me a little.
“Given that, the most important thing for us is to put away our chances when they come.
“Realistically our chance of beating England is to get away to a quick start – perhaps they will be nervous, it’s a really big occasion for them – and build a score because whatever happens we will be under the cosh in the final stages of the game.”
BRENDAN GALLAGHER