'Fit and tactically astute': Fiji hitting World Cup in dangerous form

The Rugby World Cup pools have been a huge talking point leading into the 2023 fixture and now just 28 days out, fans have their clearest picture yet of how teams are tracking for the tournament.

While The Rugby Championship offered the southern hemisphere's tier-one nations their final preparations before heading to Europe, the Pacific Nations Cup offered the likes of Tonga, Samoa, Japan and Fiji a launchpad to hit France fit and firing.

Fiji emerged from the Pacific Nations Cup victorious after a clean sweep was confirmed in a 35-12 win over Japan.

The win was far from lacking in Flying Fijian extravagance with numerous tries disallowed on top of the 35-point tally. But it was the other areas that impressed former All Black James Parsons.

"What I saw from Fiji against Japan, they are fit and tactically astute," Parsons told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

"Some of their exits and discipline to exit, there was a red card and they got maybe a little bit carried away with trying to play too much but if they can keep that discipline they showed in that first 20-30 minutes against Japan, they're a well-oiled machine. Benny Volavola, man he is running a good cutter so I think they're a chance."

Volavola has since been left out of Fiji's World Cup squad in favour of Caleb Muntz and Teti Tela, both of whom impressed in prior PNC matches.

The loss cemented Japan's fate, with an unflattering third-place finish piling on further misery from the resounding losses ceded at the hands of the All Blacks XV just weeks earlier.

The alarming results paint a stark picture for Jamie Joseph's side who face perhaps the most competitive pool in the World Cup, squaring off with England, Argentina, Samoa and Chile.

"Two games of that Pacific Cup they lost a red card early which doesn't help," Parsons added. "But the Fijian pack just monstered them. Like, monstered."

Japan's teams have in recent campaigns made a name for themselves as World Cup wildcards, claiming historic wins over South Africa and Ireland in the 2015 and 2019 tournaments respectively.

Now, England and Argentina sit as favourites to qualify for the quarter-final stages and Samoa have even leapfrogged Japan in the World Rugby rankings.