Weakened Fijians look to take stride forward

Fiji’s admission yesterday that 30 front-line players were unavailable for selection for their European tour paints a graphic picture — not all rugby nations are treated the same.

With Fiji’s top stars scattered throughout the world and many of the clubs refusing to release them, fulfilling IRB touring obligations is often a frustrating exercise.

“I think there were more players unavailable than available,” admitted coach Inoke Male in Limerick yesterday. “It’s a tough tour to manage but we hope to achieve something like an improved IRB ranking and the experience that the local boys will be exposed to.”

The Fijians remain optimistic, however, and skipper Deacon Manu is determined to make the best of his side’s lot. He is confident as he faces into what will be a full capped Test game for his country.

They may have experienced a mauling at the hands of England last weekend but Manu believes the final scoreline didn’t reflect the contribution his side made to the contest.

“In the first 15 to 20 minutes we were hard on their line and unlucky not to score points,” he said.

“In the international game on such a huge occasion and being away from home you need to take whatever is offered, that’s really important. They scored a soft try before half time and that made the challenge for us even more difficult.

“Still the guys managed to hang in there and scored a couple of tries second half. We took a hard look at ourselves to see what we need to improve on for this week.”

Manu doesn’t expect Ireland to play a different game to England, having benefit of knowledge built up from his time in Europe.

“They play a similar way really. I’ve been involved playing Irish teams for many years and the competition has been fantastic against all the Irish sides, especially with so many of them in the clubs putting their hands up for selection on the national side.

He isn’t worried that Ireland won’t be treating the game as a full international or that the game might not attract a capacity attendance, he’s just more concerned how his Fijian side react to another new challenge.

“We’re still representing our country and that is a huge honour. We’re just there to get things right for us moving forward.”