Rugby World Cup: Wallabies prepare for Fijian challenge
A win in the Wallabies’ next game will all but put them in the quarter-finals, but Eddie Jones’ men will need to be watchful as they get set to face a familiar opponent.
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The Wallabies can expect to face the backlash of a fired-up Fiji in their next World Cup outing after the Pacific Islanders copped a raw deal from the officials in their gut-wrenching 32-26 loss to Wales.
Knowing that a win will all but seal their place in the quarter-finals after they opened their World Cup campaign with a workmanlike victory over Georgia, the Wallabies are now on high alert against a Fijian team that needs to win to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stage.
The Fijians could just as easily have been celebrating a famous win over the Welsh but were left scratching their heads about how they ended up on the wrong side of the ledger after a series of baffling decisions by the referee Matthew Carley went against them.
Rugby’s pedantic laws have long been a running joke because of the wild inconsistencies in the way they are applied but the Fijians will be entitled to wonder what was going on after Carley instantly yellow-carded Lekima Tagitagivalu after letting four Welsh players escape with warnings.
Despite the inconsistent rulings, Fiji still had a chance to steal victory at the death, only for Semi Radradra to drop the ball with the line wide open.
The Wallabies play Fiji in St Etienne next weekend, and are embracing for a torrid and emotional encounter.
“There‘s quite a few Fijians in this team as well,” Australian inside centre Samu Kerevi said.
“It‘s always gonna be special because Fiji holds a special place in our heart.
“But once you put on the jersey we‘re Australians and we’re excited for the challenge.”
Australia and Fiji have been drawn together in the same pool for the fourth time in the last five World Cups, with the Wallabies winning easily in 2007 before having to grind out victories in 2015 and 2019.
Now with Fiji Drua in Super Rugby, Kerevi says the Pacific Islanders are even more dangerous.
“I think a big part of it is in Drua and I think (Drua coach) Mick Byrne has done a great job down there growing that grassroots level and keeping the team together because you see the combinations they have,” he said.
“A lot of it has come from Drua and has transitioned over to the Fiji team, which has played well and you saw the result against England.”
While the Wallabies are expecting to be without halfback Tate McDermott after he copped a head knock against Georgia, veteran loosehead prop James Slipper is expected back.
The most experienced player in Australia‘s World Cup squad, Slipper missed the Wallabies opening match because of a foot injury but assistant coach Dan Palmer said both he and tight-head Pone Fa’amausili could be available for the Fijian clash.
“I‘d expect him to be pretty close. I think he and Pone are in and around training again,” Palmer said.
“I‘d expect them to be there or thereabouts this week. Having that experience come back is always going to be a positive.
“Hopefully lift the quality that we get during the week. But we‘ve got confidence in all the players that are here.”
While the Wallabies kicked a lot of a ball away in the match against Georgia, which was played in sweltering conditions, they would be crazy to use the same tactics against the explosive running Fijians.
While team tactics are a closely guarded secret Palmer did say the Wallabies would likely put a lot of emphasis on the set pieces, which has become one of their strengths.
“Fiji‘s obviously a different challenge but … we’ll be looking to take it to them,” he said.
“In reality, our focus is on us and getting our fundamentals in order.
“We will approach the game slightly differently against Fiji, but the fact that we‘ll be focused on improving our own fundamentals won’t change.”
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Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Wallabies prepare for Fijian challenge
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