MANU Samoa coach Alama Ieremia says his team needs to up their game from Georgia last weekend when they play the Vodafone Flying Fijians at the ANZ Stadium in Suva today.

And with a number of changes from the team that played Georgia with his experienced players back in the side, Samoa will surely give the Flying Fijians a run for their money this afternoon.

“Definitely expect a different team, we debuted 10 players last week and we’ve only got one this week. A lot of those debut players haven’t made the squad because the main players from the UK and France, and Japan have finished their competition, so they’re actually here so they’ll certainly bring a lot of experience into this competition because Tonga and Fiji are different, so we’ll be a different team, from Georgia last week,” Ieremia said.

Like Fiji and Tonga, Samoa is also looking for a spot in the 2019 Rugby World Cup and they want nothing less than a win this afternoon.

“This is a new start with a new team from the last world cup, we have approached it that way, Fiji is a form team of the Pacific, if we go according to the rankings and according to their performances to date, we know we got our work cut out but if you look too much to the past you’ll trip over all the stuff in front of you so we’re definitely looking forward.”

And for Ieremia, this first game against a better ranked Fijian side is a must win for them to at least give them hope before they host Tonga next weekend in Apia Park.

“We have to make sure that we’re on top of our game, they will be very good in front of their home team.

“Like back in Samoa, Fijians love their rugby and they will be using the support to get them through and we really have to match their game otherwise it’s going to be a long way.

“We’re really looking forward to it though, we love playing here in Fiji, It’s lovely playing rugby here in Suva especially in the massive stadium, it really is.”