Fiji player ratings vs Wales | Rugby World Cup 2023
The Flying Fijians opened their Rugby World Cup against Wales in Bordeaux with a 32-26 loss that went right down to the wire.
Fiji climbed back from 8-0 down to take a 14-8 lead midway through the first half but couldn't capitalise on their opportunities in a wild game that see sawed between the two sides.
Wales looked to fight fire with fire and matched Fiji's enterprise with brilliant counter-attacking rugby of their own. They looked to have the game sealed before a furious comeback by Fiji that just fell short.
Here's how Fiji's players rated.
1 Eroni Mawi - 6
3 Luke Tagi - 6
Had a good offload early and strong carrying up front. Got through a high tackle count for a prop and maintained a high work rate, anchored a solid set-piece.
5 Te Ahiwaru Cirikidaveta - 6
Took on the off-the-ball work with plenty of cleaning. Had three carries and was equal top tackler for Fiji with seven.
8 Viliame Mata - 8
10 Teti Tela - 6
Provided a great touchfinder into the corner early. Restarts were very accurate, but his first penalty was a bad miss from long range. Tela ran Fiji's patterns well and had very good distribution. Missed on a crossfield kick opportunity to Radradra under advantage. Missed the conversions when Lomani went off which hurt.
15 Ilaisa Droasese - 6
Injected into the line with promise and always looked like breaking through. Was safe at the back, covering kicks well and diffusing bombs. Hardly put a foot wrong in a very clinical performance. Finished with top running metres for Fiji with 128.
Substitutes
16 Tevita Ikanivere - The Fijian reserve forwards came on and dominated the scrum and continued the power onslaught with their carries.
17 Peni Ravai - 8 - Immediately came in with fire and tried a couple of big shorts. Incredible power with ball-in-hand and made 9 carries in his cameo. Was rewarded with a barge over try minutes from the end.
18 Mesake Doge - 5 - Injected himself with some strong carries.
19 Temo Mayanavanua - N/A - On at 69 mins.
20 Levani Botia - 5 - The veteran crashed over but was held up at a key moment with Fiji trying close the gap to 4 points.
21 Simione Kuruvoli - On - Brought physical defence off the bench.
22 Josua Tuisova - 7 - Came in for Radradra and brought plenty of energy looking for the ball. Carried over Jac Morgan with his first touch. Crashed over for Fiji's third try after the Fiji forwards bent the line. Finished with 5 defenders beaten in a solid cameo.
23 Sireli Maqala - N/A - On in 74th.
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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