Georgia next in the firing line as Uruguay put Fijian celebrations to bed
Uruguay back rower Juan Diego Ormaechea insists the South Americans are determined to produce another World Cup shock against Georgia. Fiji were stunned in Pool D on Wednesday when Uruguay achieved the greatest result in their rugby history with a 30-27 victory in Kamaishi.
“We’re still happy but we know it’s in the past,” Ormaechea said of the Fiji win ahead of the Georgia clash in Kumagaya. “We’re very focused on this game. We knew we would have only three or four days (turnaround) and we are 100 per cent focused on Georgia. It’s a game that will demand that kind of energy and mental focus again.”
Georgia lost their opening game to Wales 43-14 on Monday, but they produced a dogged second-half performance in which they shared 28 points with Warren Gatland’s side. At 11th place in the world rugby rankings, they are six spots higher than Uruguay and lead Los Teros 3-2 in their head-to-head meetings.
“We are at a tipping point in our tournament,” said Georgia head coach Milton Haig, who has made 12 changes from the team that started against Wales. “Obviously the Uruguay match this week becomes a must-win for us, so we’re under no illusions about where we are at and what needs to be done.
“We knew we were going to have short turnarounds. When we had the pool draw we knew that between the Uruguay and Fiji games we would have four days. We don’t really see a lot of significance between what team went out against Wales and what team goes out here.”
- Press Association
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I understand, but England 30 years ago were a set piece focused kick heavy team not big on using backs.
Same as now.
South African sides from any period will have a big bunch of forwards smashing it up and a first five booting everything in their own half.
NZ until recently rarely if ever scrummed for penalties; the scrum is to attack from, broken play, not structured is what we’re after.
Same as now.
These are ways of playing very ingrained into the culture.
If you were in an English club team and were off to Fiji for a game against a club team you’d never heard of and had no footage of, how would you prepare?
For a forward dominated grind or would you assume they will throw the ball about because they are Fijian?
A Fiji way. An English way.
An Australian way depends on who you’ve scraped together that hasn’t been picked off by AFL or NRL, and that changes from generation to generation a lot of the time.
Actually, maybe that is their style. In fact, yes they have a style.
Nevermind. Fuggit I’ve typed it all out now.
Go to commentsSouth African teams need to start prioritising the Champions Cup for sure. They need to use depth in the URC.
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