Fiji ready to take the game to Wales in Cardiff

Fiji are ready to thrive on what head coach Mick Byrne describes as “a whole new energy” when they tackle Wales in Cardiff.

A 57-17 defeat against Scotland in their Autumn Nations Series opener has little relevance to Sunday’s Principality Stadium encounter.

Fiji have welcomed back of galaxy of northern hemisphere based stars who were unavailable last weekend as the game fell outside World Rugby’s autumn Test window.

Into the team come world-class players like Semi Radradra, Waisea Nayacalevu, Josua Tuisova and Jiuta Wainiqolo, with Fiji targeting what would be a first victory over Wales in Cardiff at the ninth attempt.

Experience

“This is the strongest side we could have picked at the moment,” Byrne said. “We’ve got a good block of experience that has come in, especially in the back line.

“I think the squad highlights a good mix for us. We have got some good carry, and if we need to get across the gain-line nice and early we have got some strength there.

“We’ve got some great deception and running lines outside. It’s a good mix for us, to be able to have a good strong ball carrier at 12 and then a good distributor and line runner at 13. It gives us great flexibility in attack.

“I think when you get 11 new players come in, it almost feels fresh again. What we focus now on is Wales and that creates a whole new energy. It is a beautiful stadium, and it’s great for players to experience that.”

Thriller

Fiji narrowly lost a 2023 World Cup thriller when the countries last met and history shows it is a fixture that Wales have often had to work exceptionally hard in for victory.

Almost half of their 12 wins from 14 meetings have been by seven points or less, while Fiji drew in Cardiff 14 years ago and knocked Wales out of the 2007 World Cup.

And they have arrived in the Welsh capital with Wales striving to avoid a 10th successive Test defeat, which would equal a record run of losses set in 2002 and 2003.

“If we focus and get our game going, we believe we can put pressure on most teams,” Byrne added.

“I am sure Wales will be desperate to get a win, but so are we. For us, we want to get our job right and push enough pressure and execute our game-plan in the way I know we can.

“We want to be the ones pushing the pressure on the field and see if the opposition can answer the questions that we are going to ask.

“We know Wales are going to ask a lot of questions of us – they are going to come hard at us and we need to be ready for that and compete.”