INSTRUMENTAL five Kurt Donoghoe believes the Vodafone Fiji Bati forwards have shown they can match the best in the world, and he wants them to carry that confidence into tomorrow’s decisive Rugby League World Cup clash against New Zealand.
“It’s going to be a tough game. We know they’ve got a big pack, a big powerful pack, but you look at what our pack had done to Australia’s pack,” Donoghoe said.
The loss leaves the Bati needing to beat the Kiwis on Saturday to qualify for their fourth World Cup semi-final appearance.
Donoghoe believes the lessons from the match against Australia will be what helps his side next weekend at Cbus Super Stadium, according to Rugby League World Cup news.
“We’ll recover and regroup and we’ll try to repeat what we’ve done against Australia,” Donoghoe said.
“We can’t get too happy or excited with what happened, at the end of the day we didn’t win, so there’s a few things we need to look at to try and get the win next week.”
The Bati pushed defending champions Australia to the limit before losing 36-22 in Brisbane, producing their closest result against the Kangaroos in eight World Cup meetings.
Donoghoe was instrumental in that performance, setting up three tries and three-line breaks in a man-of-the-match display at five-eighth.
However, the Dolphins utility was quick to turn attention to the forwards, whose effort against Australia has given him confidence ahead of the encounter with the Kiwis.
“I was so happy to see how they went and how they turned up and I’ve got no doubt in my mind they can do it again next week,” Donoghoe said.
Donoghoe said Fiji needed to recover well, review its mistakes and maintain the belief that helped the team challenge Australia.
“We’ll recover and regroup and we’ll try to repeat what we’ve done against Australia,” he said.
Fiji will take one New Zealand this Saturday, 4.30pm at Cbus Super stadium, Gold Coast.
