Fijian flair

How to beat Fijian flair: Townsend

Times Online.UK - Friday, November 13, 2009

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“Give Fiji the chance and they are the best broken-field runners in the world. The last time we played them, they tore us to bits in the first half, or at least one man did. In the last World Cup they beat Wales and gave South Africa a run for their money.”

It’s a strong warning but because it comes from Gregor Townsend, who was in the Scotland team that scraped home against Fiji six years ago and is now the national attack coach, it is one worth paying attention to.

Few players have had a closer insight into how dangerous Fiji can be, and how to stop them.

“They are a dangerous side, they are ranked above us for a reason,” he said. “They have beaten teams over the last few years. If you give them space and are not accurate, they will punish you.”

For Townsend, a disciple of open, adventurous rugby during his own career as a player, there are few sights more inspiring than a Fiji side in full flight, but having been in the middle as Scotland found ways to fight the Pacific Island flair and come from behind to win, he also sees where the weaknesses are.

“Possession was a problem for them, we turned over a few balls in the first half but in the second half we got the confidence that if we could hold on to the ball we would score, and so it proved,” he said.

“Unlike then, I don’t think fitness will be as much of a factor now, a lot more of their players are based in Europe and have European standards of conditioning.”

For those who have forgotten, the last meeting between the two countries came in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, in a winner-takes-all match in Sydney.

Fiji raced into the lead, with Rupeni Caucau scoring two scorching long-range tries, but Scotland won in the dying seconds with Tom Smith being driven over from a lineout to level the scores and Chris Paterson slotting the conversion to give Scotland victory.

In many ways, coupled with the way Fiji scored late to knock Wales out of the last World Cup, that match is a warning to the Scots that they cannot afford to take this game as anything other than a serious challenge.

Fiji are positioned one place ahead of Scotland on the IRB world rankings, partly because they have played fewer top-level matches since the successes of the last World Cup and partly because they have been successful in beating the other teams grouped around the No 10 position in the list, the position Scotland occupy.

“We don’t know much about the current players,” Townsend said.

“We know their strengths though, Fiji are always the best in beating a man one-on-one. They play at a pace and in a style as though they are under no pressure.

"They just play what they see and are always prepared to have a go.

“It is a fantastic challenge for us but we have to focus on ourselves. It has been really exciting working on what we want to do with the ball in different areas of the field and how we want to play rugby that challenges the opposition at all times.

“We are here to play winning rugby, so we will do whatever puts points on the board.”