Bula
The big news right now is on the Flying Fijians’ game against Portugal. We succumbed 23-24 but are through to the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup in France. We take on the might of England on October 15.
National coach Simon Raiwalui says facing England in the quarterfinals will be different. They will be a different side from the team we faced last month in Twickenham. We defeated the Tier One nation 30-22 for the first time, two weeks away from the World Cup.
We now are set to clash at Stade de Marseille in a week’s time at 3am our time. That’s the big news on the front page of the Fiji Times for Tuesday, October 10.
The other big news of the moment is the war that is raging in the Middle East. Israel and Hamas are at war and a group of Fijians in Israel are finding solace in prayer. Fijian doctor Mesulame Namedre has detailed the group’s experiences in a bunker and how they are turning to prayer in the face of the uncertainty.
Headlines
Here are some headlines inside:
- PUBLIC consultations on medicinal cannabis has started and already a lot of concerns are being raised by members of the public regarding Government’s intention of working with overseas investors instead of locals.
- LOCALS should have 50 per cent ownership of the medicinal cannabis industry or provide 50 per cent of the raw materials needed, says Ponipate Ravula.
- INVESTORS in the medicinal cannabis industry will need to have a proven record in that field, says Ministry of External Trade, Cooperatives and SMEs permanent secretary Shaheen Ali.
- HEALTH Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong says the reason they’re supporting government’s move to introduce medicinal cannabis is because “it is a very controlled approach”.
- THE Fijian Elections Office (FEO) has recorded 2851 new registrations between June and September of this year.
- ACTING Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa says the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) will be ready to conduct municipal elections, whether it is for one day or more.
- ONE of the people being investigated for their alleged involvement in a mPAISA scam, whereby more than $8000 was defrauded from a supermarket, has escaped police custody.
- THE High Court in Lautoka has granted an interim stay on the Minister of Home Affairs’ decision to remove three Grace Road directors- Sung Jin Lee, Nam Suk Choi and Byeongjoon Lee – from Fiji.
Synopsis
What a game! It wasn’t what we expected. But what a game!
Portugal wanted it more than us.
Their coach Patrice Lagisquet, a former French winger with 46 caps, was ecstatic. He was over the moon.
In front of the camera, he said: “It’s incredible. It’s unbelievable.”
When Rodrigo Marta scored that last minute try and Samuel Marques kicked that conversion to hand Portugal victory, it ended a rollercoaster ride for them in France.
It was a historic first win at the World Cup.
And they savoured it to the brim.
The fans loved it, and they showed their appreciation at Stadium de Toulouse.
For the Flying Fijians, the 23-24 loss still catapulted the team to the quarterfinals.
We will now face England on October 15.
Two games have shown England what they will need to do against Fiji.
Georgia nullified our strengths in the set pieces with an increased tempo in defence and attack. They ensured we did not get over the gain line as much as we wanted to.
Portugal obviously came in with lessons from that game.
They niggled us in the breakdowns and kept us on the backfoot with their rushed defence. They were enthusiastic, determined, committed, and most importantly, very passionate. They wanted the win more than us. They had a reason to win!
A lot of fans would have been unhappy with our kicking game, even if it meant trying to keep Portugal on the backfoot, and deep inside their 22.
We dominated ball carries and metres gained and missed fewer tackles than Portugal. We also conceded less penalties.
Our scrum was strong, however, we had issues again with our lineout.
We did well in the stats, but we lost the game!
National coach Simon Raiwalui has his work cut out looking ahead to the game against England.
We have always said that no team goes to the RWC to lose. No coach takes a team there to lose either.
They will plan, strategise and organise themselves to be in the best possible condition for every game they play.
They will study teams, discuss loopholes, and challenge themselves to produce winning gameplans.
They will vary their plans to suit the run of play. The goal is victory.
We know we can defeat England. We did so at the home of English rugby, at Twickenham.
It is different this time. Whilst England were stretched to the brim by Manu Samoa in their final RWC pool game at Lille, they also would have seen how both Georgia and Portugal drew from the same booklet to take on Fiji.
But Fijian fans know we have what it takes to defeat England.
We have the scrum to handle them, the pace and defensive grunt to nullify their attacks, a classy backline and a backrow that has no qualms about digging into the breakdowns for turnover balls.
We will miss the organizing skills of Caleb Muntz this time, but we have a challenge that is already attracting a lot of attention.
We know it can be done. And most importantly, it is when we are staring at a blank wall, that we dig deep within ourselves to inch out the warrior inside. Afterall it’s elimination time! That’s when we reflect on everything dear to us, and passion stirs something deep within that empowers us to display feats of magic. When we succumbed to Wales, we reset, re-focused, and came out firing against Australia. The Flying Fijians will be carrying the hopes and aspirations of an expectant nation. We say go Fiji, go!
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