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Fiji vow to play with ‘no fear’ in World Cup quarters
"We want our boys to play with freedom and without fear and to give it a real attacking spirit."
Fidji’s players gather during a training session at the Roger Couderc stadium in Marseille on October 11, 2023 during the France 2023 Rugby World Cup. Picture: Christophe SIMON / AFP
Underdogs Fiji will be fearless when they tackle England in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, assistant coach Daryl Gibson vowed on Saturday.
The Flying Fijians will be playing in only their third World Cup quarter-final and first in 16 years, against a team that were finalists in Japan four years ago.
Confidence from previous result
While Fiji are clearly not favourites for Sunday’s match in Marseille, they come into the encounter with the confidence that they have beaten England within the last two months.
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And despite being the only Tier II nation to reach the knock-out stages of the competition, they will look to attack the 2003 champions with abandon regardless of how their opponents play.
“Teams that play Fiji have a blueprint in terms of gameplan,” said Gibson.
“We expect England will play a lot of territory, they will kick the ball a lot and try and put us under a lot of pressure.
“Scrum, maul and line-out: we know that is coming. We have also done a lot of work in terms of getting back to the style of play that we are known for.
“We want our boys to play with freedom and without fear and to give it a real attacking spirit.”
Fiji have been inconsistent in this tournament, producing a stunning 22-15 upset of Australia last month and pushing Wales close in a stirring comeback that almost resulted in another win over Tier 1 opposition.
But against fellow Tier II opponents, they struggled to defeat Georgia and even lost to minnows Portugal.
“We have learned from the last game against Portugal and that won’t bring us down,” said backrow forward Lekima Tagitagivalu, who admitted the players have been dreaming about making history as the first Tier II nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals.
“We have never got to the semis so that is something that has motivated the boys,” he added.
“That is something we want to achieve and we want to be history makers so it’s something we are ready to do.”
