FIJI Water Flying Fijians head coach Simon Raiwalui says they have a big challenge on their hands when they come up against a very physical Georgia side at Stade de Bordeaux tomorrow.
The two sides will meet again after having last played out a 15-all draw two years ago at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This time around, both teams have grown in leaps and bounds and have stepped up their game.
While Fiji needs a win to keep their RWC campaign alive, Georgia is chasing its first win of the tournament.
“It’s going to be a physical game, we know them quite well, we’ve played them quite often. They are a very proud team; they will come out and be very physical. Set piece will be a big challenge as well,” Raiwalui said.
“They’re a very good team. They’re fit, they’ve obviously prepared well. They’re a very physical team, they love to play with that physicality, something that we like to do as well. We’re at similar stages of our development, we’re looking to get further, move up further with bigger matches outside the World Cup. We have the utmost respect for Georgia and what they’re doing, and we understand it’s going to be a very tough match.”
After a close 26-32 loss to Wales and the 22-15 win over Australia, Raiwalui is under no illusions that they have played their “toughest” matches against the Dragons and Wallabies.
“We don’t listen to what other people think about the matches. We take one match at a time, and we respect each team that we play,” he said.
“There’s no harder or easier games and Georgia is a very tough team. We’ve had that mindset since we started, just taking one task at a time.”
He added the extended break between the Australia and Georgia matches allowed his players to refresh for the Lelos.
“The great thing about this team is when we work, we work, and we had a good training session today. We’ve prepared well this week; we’ve gone into this week understanding what the challenge is and we’ve prepared for that and we’re looking forward to the match.
“It should be a really good match I think, it’s two teams that are physical, we saw last week when Georgia played Portugal, they love to play with the ball so it’s going to be a tough challenge.”
Semi Radradra, who will play in the number 11 jersey for Fiji, said: “I think we all know Georgia are a tough team, we know what they can bring physically, especially on the front foot. So, our aim is to weather the storm, to match their physicality as well. We know it’s going to be hard, we have to stick to our structure and hopefully, we can wear them down.”
The match kicks off at 3.45am.
