- Pacific islanders boosted by wins against Australia and England
- We can put tier-one nations ‘to sleep’, claims forwards coach
Fiji are preparing to “shock the world” against England in Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final with the Pacific islanders vowing to deliver the knockout blow and put Steve Borthwick’s side “to sleep”.
The match in Marseille will be only the third time Fiji have contested a World Cup quarter-final. But after a valiant showing in defeat by Wales and an impressive victory against Australia, they finished their pool stage campaign with a nervous win over Georgia and a shock loss to Portugal.
Fiji claimed a first ever win over England at Twickenham in August, however, and tend to thrive when going into matches as the underdogs. The captain, Waisea Nayacalevu, admitted there was a palpable sense of relief at squeezing through to the quarter-finals with a losing bonus point against Portugal – knocking Eddie Jones’s Australia out in the process – and the forwards coach, Graham Dewes, believes Fiji can deliver a performance to make the world take note.
“We’ll go in with humility, respect our opponents and understand they’ll come harder as we beat them last time around,” said Dewes, who scored the winning try against Wales to book Fiji’s place in the 2007 quarter-finals – the last time the Pacific islanders reached this stage of the tournament. “I think Fiji on its day is capable of shocking the world. We’ve done it in the past, and if we stick to our gameplan, then we’ll do it again.
“On our day we can match anyone. Sometimes when we play tier-two nations, we drop our standards. We don’t plan to do it but things happen on the day. When we play the tier-one nations, if we get it right we put them to sleep.
“[Beating England] has given us a lot of confidence. We believe now that we can match tier-one nations, not just England and Australia but we also pushed Wales close. For us now, it is do or die. We go hard at the weekend or we are going home early.
“We know there will be people, our family and friends, who will be supporting us come Sunday. They will be praying for us, they will be walking up the mountain to get reception to watch TV and support. We have the whole nation of Fiji behind us and that is really going to motivate us for the weekend.”
England, meanwhile, have come to consider that Twickenham defeat as a line in the sand moment, subsequently arriving in France and kickstarting their campaign with a defiant victory over Argentina despite Tom Curry’s early red card.
