Ba Rugby head coach and former Flying Fijians winger, Filimoni Delasau believes the FIJI Water Flying Fijians have an uphill battle ahead of them as they take on the New Zealand All Blacks in San Diego this Saturday.
Delasau says the Flying Fijians face a significant challenge, knowing they are playing a team, which has played two major Test matches, prior to their encounter, while the Fijian team is still in a building and regrouping stage.
“This is an uphill battle for our boys, knowing they are at a disadvantage since the All Blacks have prepared well, played two bigger Test matches than us, and are ranked as one of the best in the world,” Delasau said.
The former winger further states that if he was the Flying Fijians coach, he would have preferred to have two major Test matches before this game.
However, the assignment has already been set for our national gladiators to take on the All Blacks.
“The team has been gelling in well and training well and their task has been set and we look forward to a good game,” he added.
Delasau adds that with a strong set of wingers, including Peniasi Dakuwaqa and Jiuta Wainiqolo, Fiji has a good combination.
He further states that the Flying Fijians will need to inject their Fijian flair into the game to avoid playing a predictable, structured style.
“From our time till now, rugby has developed with so many rules and structures and players play structured game plan which becomes predictable for oppositions, just like our Drua team, when they played in their third year of competition, all the teams were able to read our next move.
“For this match against the All Blacks, it will be good for the Flying Fijians to inject some Fijian flair in the game to open up the game instead of playing a structured game,” Delasau added.
The Flying Fijians and All Blacks Test match kicks off at 2.30pm on Saturday.
