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Where Fiji need to improve to withstand imminent All Blacks backlash

(Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

Fiji head coach Vern Cotter knows his side did well in last week’s clash against the All Blacks in Dunedin.

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However, he is also aware there are areas his team needs to improve on if they are to back-up their impressive showing at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Saturday’s re-match at FMG Stadium Waikato.

The Flying Fijians’ presence at the breakdown in last week’s 57-23 defeat has been a focal point all week leading into the second test in Hamilton, but Cotter, who is expecting the All Blacks set to come out firing after being outmuscled in the collision area last time round, said there is still room for improvement there.

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“Yeah we got a few turnovers. We got penalised a few times as well, so we definitely want to take away those penalties that are unnecessary — we still want to be competitive in that area,” Cotter said.

“Different field, different conditions this weekend — we’ll adapt to what we need to do to defend well, look for those turnovers but also not give away penalties, so it’s going to be a balance between that.”

New Zealand’s 34-point winning margin is deceptive of surface level as they only led Fiji by eight points with 20 minutes to go before their bench came on and blew their fatigued opponents out of the water in the final quarter of the match.

Cotter acknowledged that late blowout as a point of concern for his side, and the former Scotland coach said the onus is on Fiji to stay in the fight in the dying stages of the contest.

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“That’s a focus for us, to make sure we remain competitive all the way through the game and not give away soft tries and certainly tries from driven mauls from penalties.”

The arrival of halfbacks Frank Lomani, of the Melbourne Rebels, and Moses Sorovi, of the Queensland Reds, from Australia should help Fiji’s bid for prolonged consistency.

“A real buzz having two halfbacks in because, when we looked at the game [last week], we lost a bit of shape when Simione [Kuruvoli, last week’s starting halfback] went off,” Cotter said.

“Frank brings speed on the ball. We’ll be able to accelerate, move it quickly off the ground or keep it up. He’s a great defender as well in and around rucks and we feel there’s going to be a little more activity in and around that ruck area this weekend.”

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Lomai’s and Sororvi’s presence will also provide Fiji with some extra leadership after they lost inspirational captain and midfielder Levani Botia to injury.

Filling his role as skipper will be veteran lock Leone Nakarawa, who is confident of leading his team strongly in wet conditions in Waikato’s main centre.

“I think I have to lead by example and there’s a lot of young boys as well in the team, but they’ve been filling the big shoes very well and we’re all looking forward to the game,” he said.

“When we play it’s 23 that are going to play tomorrow so it’s a team game tomorrow.”

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H
Hellhound 44 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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