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All Blacks given upper hand as Fiji undergo travel hell on way to USA

Players react after the final whistle during the rugby international test match between Georgia and Fiji at Adjarabet Arena on July 5, 2024 in Batumi, Georgia. (Photo by Levan Verdzeuli/Getty Images)

The Flying Fijians squad has reassembled in San Diego for the clash with the All Blacks after nine players had to get their visas in Suva before flying to Los Angeles.

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Local media reported the nine who travelled via Fiji were Eroni Mawi, Albert Tuisue, Jiuta Wainiqolo, Sireli Maqala, Meli Derenalagi, Peniasi Dakuwaqa, Viliame Mata, Temo Mayanavanua and Vilimoni Botitu.

The rest of the squad left Georgia on Sunday via Turkey and all of the players are now in San Diego training under head coach Mick Byrne who has pinpointed the set piece as a key area after studying the All Blacks two test series win over England.

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    Fiji are coming off an impressive 21-12 win in Georgia against a team noted for its forward power. Byrne’s side did not concede a try and a repeat of that tight defence will be vital against the All Blacks.

    Byrne told the Fiji Sun: “I thought we did well on our scrum, our line-out and mauling was good against Georgia, so we’ll just continue to grow that. We are working hard with our set-piece and our scrums, making sure that we are committed in that area.

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    “We just need to make sure that we settle in early in defence to be able to be the physical team that we know we can be. The growth in the Flying Fijians over the last couple of years with the inclusion of the Fijian Drua team has created a more professional depth than what was there originally.

    “The depth of the squad has improved to the point where we’ll do our work and focus on ourselves.”

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    The Flying Fijians will face the All Blacks at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Saturday. The All Blacks won the first Test 16-15 and wrapped up the series with a 24-17 win over England in Auckland despite having considerable problems at the line out.

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    Comments

    12 Comments
    d
    dk 369 days ago

    Neutralising the Georgian forward pack isn’t to be sniffed at. I look forward to Fiji throwing everything at us.

    S
    SadersMan 369 days ago

    The ABs already had the upper hand, to be fair. But this is what happens with a ‘marketing’ game on the other side of the world with a one week turnaround. Both teams will be feeling it.

    H
    Head high tackle 369 days ago

    Its a “pay the bills” game I suppose. NZR must be making more from this than if they played it at home.

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    H
    Hellhound 20 minutes ago
    Springboks' No.1 status in world rankings coming under increased threat

    I disagree. A fair system would include points for EVERY MATCH you play, top guns or dregs. The WC should not influence the points table. No tournament should. It should be simple. This much for a home or away win. The problem with that is that Top Tier nations can point stay by arranging a lot of games against those nations to bring up their points tally, which wouldn't work. At least not on the points table. It would however give Tier 2 nations more game time against the Top Tier nations, which in itself is a good thing. However, that being said, it would dilute the quality of teams as they don't face tough enough opposition to handle the real tough teams, so come WC time, they would suffer for those consequences. There is no points system that currently can be used that would be fair to all, so the best is to try and be as fair as possible. We may not like the current system, but it's the best we have. Some suggested the Soccer system, but it won't work in rugby. No one has come up with a better points system and if they did, WR isn't sharing that. They would rather keep an eye on Dr Rassie with pen in hand ready to declare everything he does as illegal and against the spirit of the game. The SA men are too big, we can't stop them. Maybe we should ban the big men from SA as illegal but keep the big men of other countries? Oh wait, now the SA backs are too fast and slippery. That isn't good for WR so let's declare fast SA backs as illegal too. Yeah, that's how it works in WR isn't it? WR and all other countries hate the Boks. Never give them the respect they deserve, then are shocked completely finding out that no South African care what the world of rugby or its fans or other nations think about us. We don't care about the points system. It's as rotten as World Rugby and it's socialistic communistic rule of laws. The Boks will keep leading the brand of rugby. Keep innovating. Keep pushing boundaries. Keep the game interesting. We respect the AB's because they respect us. They may not like us, but the respect has always been crystal clear. Over 100 years of the biggest rivalry in rugby’s history can't be thrown away just like that. No points system can do that. Between WC's, we care about the AB's, the rest is just preparation for the next WC.

    95 Go to comments
    J
    Jfp123 23 minutes ago
    New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

    It would be interesting to see how the financial deal and viewing figures for these last 3 matches compare with those for previous tours by leading NH nations. I imagine that broadcasting rights are negotiated a fair way in advance, so did the broadcasters realise France would send a B team when they signed on the dotted line? And to what extent were viewing figures affected? I’d have thought die hard fans would tune in anyway, and more casual fans wouldn’t know much about French players, except perhaps Dupont, and wouldn’t care who played on the French side - wouldn’t it be which ABs played that would matter to them? Although the big ‘disrespect’ furore might have had an effect, but whether to increase or decrease viewing figures I couldn’t say.

    It’s not only the French national team that sends out B teams, many of their clubs do too, both in away matches in the Top14 and in Champions Cup. But these B teams often play in front of sell out crowds, and the value of the broadcasting rights for the Top 14 have gone up and up.

    Of course, home advantage is real, and matches against the Saffas and ABs where they play best is I guess at the current time the hardest test of all. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll actually see France A in NZ or SA for the foreseeable future - the Top14 really is a fabulous competition, almost year round brilliant rugby, with big stars from around the world, madly enthusiastic fans, and a big money earner, I can’t see the French making major alterations (I’m not French, but I’m a big fan too and the only alteration I’d make is a limit on individual playing time for player welfare).

    Considering their home record against NZ and away against Ireland, I think that’s enough to acknowledge that the top French players have a very high degree of skill, but if SH fans don’t see things that way, that’s up to them. My point was, if NZ fans don’t think much of them, why are they so bothered they’re not there. Anyway come 2027, France A will travel to the SH, if not NZ or SA, and we’ll see what happens!

    100 Go to comments
    S
    Soliloquin 43 minutes ago
    All Blacks squeeze past France to sweep July series in Hamilton

    Big question!

    I think they would get outsmarted by the A team, outpacked forward and depending on the form of the A team, the score would be more or less 15-20 points a higher or lower victory.

    The only issue is that France has a lot of 13s, and they were all in NZ.

    This weekend’s team was gassed out, so it’s also very much linked to fitness level.

    Just like the ABs were tired at the end of November, while the French were rusty after just one game against Japan.

    I fear they will get smashed in Paris without Dupont (confirmed to be still out) by the Springboks as it will be their first game of the international season (a nonsense to me - the biggest game will be the first)


    The squad for this France A would be:

    Gros-Mauvaka-Tatafu

    Flament-Meafou

    Cros-Ollivon-Alldritt

    Dupont-Ntamack

    Moefana-?(all 13s were in NZ) Costes ?

    Bielle-Biarrey-Penaud

    Ramos


    (But if you can take players from the NZ, then Guillard and Barassi or Fickou could be in)


    Against the C team:

    Erdocio-Bourgarit-Slimani

    Auradou-Halagahu

    Fischer-Guillard-Brennan

    Le Garrec-Hastoy

    Fickou-Depoortere

    Attissogbe-Villière

    Barré


    And a B team would be:

    Baille-Marchand-Atonio

    Cazeaux-Vergé

    Jegou-Jelonch-Gazzotti

    Lucu-Jalibert

    Danty-Frisch

    Lebel-Dréan

    Buros


    ———

    France A-France C at full fitness: 38-12

    France A-France B: 28-17

    France B-France C: 32-20


    It seems a bit like Toulouse is kind of France A at full power last year, UBB is France B at full power last year and Racing92 is France C at full power this year.

    112 Go to comments
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