Fiji will deal with its conflict in opposition to the Wallabies as a Rugby World Cup “final”.
Following their first-up 32-26 loss to Wales, the Fijians can’t afford one other defeat after they meet the Australians in a Group C conflict on Monday morning (AEST) in Saint-Etienne.
“Australia is our final now” Fiji’s assistant coach Daryl Gibson advised The Fiji Times.
“We know that we need to beat Australia to stay in the competition. That’s a pretty simple formula.
“We’ve proven we can compete against Tier 1 nations and we proved that against Wales.
“We have a big task, but it’s not over. Nothing is impossible.”
Helping Fiji’s bid to beat Australia is an obvious hamstring damage suffered by highly effective Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou, who starred in his facet’s 35-15 weekend win over Georgia.
It was Australia’ first win beneath Eddie Jones for the reason that begin of his second stint as Wallabies coach in January.
Tupou didn’t practice with the Wallabies on Wednesday and, in accordance with a number of stories, shall be “monitored” within the subsequent few days earlier than a call is made on whether or not he performs in opposition to Fiji.
“He didn’t train today but that’s not unusual for Taniela – don’t worry,” Wallabies assistant coach Jason Ryles advised reporters.
The Fijians will know what to anticipate from a Jones-coached crew, with their coach Simon Raiwalui have been guided by the Wallabies mentor at Saracens.
“He was one of the best coaches in the world technically, so I’m sure he will come up with some game plan to play against us,” Raiwalui mentioned.
“We’re going to have to execute, we’re going to have to play our game plan, we’re going to have to do it to our best abilities.
“We’ve just got to play our style and try to impose that against a very good team.”
Springboks nice Jean de Villiers mentioned the Fijians have been able to beating the Wallabies.
“It’s doable,” the 2007 World Cup winner mentioned on the Boks Office podcast.
“I think for Australia, and probably for world rugby, it was good to see Australia getting their first win under Eddie again.
“That will build their confidence, (but) I am still not convinced they will be title contenders and even against Georgia, Georgia put up a decent fight.
“We know what the Fijians can do. If you can put them under pressure at scrum time and set phases, (that will be key). It will be a good game. It’ll be a competitive game.”
De Villiers mentioned the Wallabies wanted to make sure that blockbusting winger Marika Koroibete was closely concerned within the contest.
“You want guys like Koroibete in the game. You want him touching the ball as much as possible,” he mentioned.
Source: www.news.com.au
