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All Black great tells Fiji they face World Cup 'final'

Wales v Fiji – Rugby World Cup 2023 – Pool C – Stade de Bordeaux

Former All Black Daryl Gibson has told the Fiji players their clash with Australia in St Entienne on Sunday is their “final” as defeat would ruin their Rugby World Cup quarter final hopes.

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The controversial 26-32 loss to Wales on Sunday has left Fiji needing to defeat Australia something they have not achieved in previous tournaments.

At the 2019 World Cup, Fiji were beaten by Australia 39-21 having lost 28-13 in their 2015 clash and 55-12 in the 2007 World Cup.

Gibson, the Fiji backs coach, told the Fiji Times:“Australia is our final now. We know that we need to beat Australia to stay in the competition. That’s a pretty simple formula. Getting two bonus points (against Wales) might be crucial, but it will only be crucial if we win the struggle.

“We’ve proven we can compete against Tier 1 nations and we proved that against England and the close game against Wales. We have a big task, but it’s not over — nothing is impossible.

“The message to the boys at half-time (against Wales) was that we’ve trained in much higher intensities and longer ball in play times. So we’ve got the legs in us as shown by the strong bench that came on and got us close to victory.”

Fiji outside half Teti Tela echoed those words and said: “We knew we were going to have to work hard to beat the Welsh and we probably left a little bit out there on the field and gave them the opportunity through lack of discipline and a few handling errors which sort of keep them in the game.

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“We gave ourselves in another opportunity at the end to win the game potentially. I’m proud of the boys for their efforts and thank them for instilling their trust in me throughout the week.We’ll take our learnings directly from this.

“Against the Wallabies, we will be ready. We can’t be looking over our shoulders too much because we know it’s the Rugby World Cup, we need to walk up and we’ve got to put those points on the board.”

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Comments

3 Comments
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007 467 days ago

All Black 'Great'?!? Daryl Gibson? 🤣 😂 😅
This journo is delusional!

d
dave 468 days ago

Here's hoping Brace has taken notice of the backlash to the one sided (there are probably more accurate but more charged words than that) refereeing of Cawley in Fiji's game against Wales and referees both both sides equally. We can't have another disgraceful performance like Cawley's again. Bula.

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SK 1 hour ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Set pieces are important and the way teams use them is a great indication of how they play the game. No team is showcasing their revolution more than the Springboks. This year they have mauled less and primarily in the attacking third. Otherwise they have tended to set like they are going to maul and then play around the corner or shove the ball out the back. They arent also hitting the crash ball carrier constantly but instead they are choosing to use their width or a big carrying forward in wider areas. While their maul is varied the scrum is still a blunt instrument winning penalties before the backs have a go. Some teams have chosen to blunt their set piece game for more control. The All Blacks are kicking more penalties and are using their powerful scrum as an attacking tool choosing that set piece as an attacking weapon. Their willingness to maul more and in different positions is also becoming more prominent. The French continue to play conservative rugby off the set piece using their big bruisers frequently. The set piece is used differently by different teams. Different teams play different ways and can be successful regardless. They can win games with little territory and possession or smash teams with plenty of both. The game of rugby is for all types and sizes and thats true in the modern era. I hope that administrators keep it that way and dont go further towards a Rugby League style situation. Some administrators are of the opinion that rugby is too slow and needs to be sped up. Why not rather empower teams to choose how they want to play and create a framework that favours neither size nor agility. That favours neither slow tempo play or rock n roll rugby. Create a game that favour both and challenge teams to execute their plans. If World Rugby can create a game like that then it will be the ultimate winner.

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JW 6 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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