NOBODY ever really owes you anything in sport….. but it's my firm belief that rugby owed Fiji this historic, deserved and accomplished win at Twickenham. Even despondent England fans will have been raising a pint last night. This win is long overdue and the pleasure it will bring across the other side of the world can only be imagined.
Meanwhile up in the Twickenham stands Warren Gatland and his Wales coaches looked very thoughtful and I suspect Eddie Jones will be scrambling to watch the footage this week. Reports of Fiji's improvement have not been exaggerated.
The thing is Fiji are our rugby conscience, our soul, and that needs renewing occasionally. They play rugby like it was intended to be played; they run and handle like the game's law makers envisaged; they are not obsessed by attacking and defensive patterns, they think the box kick is some kind of illegal martial arts move and they smile and sing. A lot, even in defeat.
Hell this is the nation that gave us, briefly, Rupeni Caucau, possibly the most glorious attacking talent I have ever witnessed, and Waisale Serevi, a stepping jinking genius who owned the Hong Kong Sevens for a decade or more.
But over the years they have grown weary of being plucky entertaining losers. You can't win against T1 opposition without a functioning scrum or lineout and you have no hope unless you can defend the all pervasive rolling maul without conceding two or three yellow cards and penalty tries.
So they have set about just giving themselves a chance. Their large number of French based players have been getting fitter, stronger and cannier and the Fijian Drua franchise is revelling in mixing it with the Super Rugby elite and occasionally giving them a bloody nose. Meanwhile members of their gold medal winning Olympic Sevens squads from 2016 and 2020 – the latter of course held in 2021 – have seen what high-performance sport looks like and know how to win. The result has been a steady improvement in the basics but – joyously – not at the expense of their natural game.
So for example yesterday we had a judicious mix of styles. When England finally got something together, there was at one stage a massive defensive scrum for Fiji a few yards out. Absolutely rock solid scrum, textbook out the back clearance to Caleb Muntz who drilled the ball 45 yard downfield. That is the new Fiji and look out for Muntz by the way, he's a hell of an all-round talent who has been one of the main beneficiaries of regular Super Rugby with Fiji Drua.
But then we have the old Fiji, novice right wing Selestino Ravutaumada who has come through like a runaway train with the Drua. Now Fiji have got probably a dozen top class wings, at least half of them playing for other countries as it happens, so you can probably be excused for not keeping abreast of them all. The formidable Josua Tuisova is currently injured – although hopeful of playing at the World Cup – so Ravutaumada is getting a run and what a marvellous, elegant but also twinkle toed operator he is.
But you also have the old campaigners in the centre, skipper Waisea Nayacalevu, below, who has probably been one of the best centres in the Top 14 for the last decade and Semi Radradra who needs no introduction. It was astonishing in passing to learn that this is the first time these two warriors have ever been paired together with Levani Botia normally occupying one of the starting berths at centre. Botia rested yesterday, is now free to play in his La Rochelle position of flanker.
I mentioned earlier the debt I feel rugby owes to Fiji and that applies especially to rugby fans of my generation. Yes, we were lucky in that we had the 1971 and 1974 Lions not to mention the 1973 Barbarians to inspire us as kids but actually the team that first hooked me and countless others including just about every PE teacher in Britain was the 1970 Fijians who played rugby from another planet with their Harlem Globetrotter passes – one handed flicks, hooks over the shoulder, no look offloads and huge miss passes – while they could all run like stags.
At Gosforth, at the conclusion of the tour, Fiji blitzed a Barbarians side that included eight future 1971 Lions and a ‘74 Lion in Phil Bennett who partnered Gareth Edwards at half-back. Seven tries to three it was in their
29-9 win – it was just 3-3 at half time! – and happily the Rugby Special cameras were there and a 40 minute highlights package is still up on Youtube. Treat yourself sometime.
The Fijians and their moves became the role models for a generation of schoolboys and to this day I am convinced also inspired some of the brilliant play we witnessed from Wales and the Lions throughout the 1970s.
Derek Quinnell was on Barbarians duty that day and recalls it vividly: “We had a hell of a good Barbarians side that day, We had already seen Fiji produce some magic on the TV and were intrigued. We wanted to match and better them – the Barbarians selected a very fast, very fit team – but we were left chasing shadows to be honest. I'm not sure I have ever walked off a rugby pitch feeling more beaten and second best as that day against Fiji. I was completely battered.”
Just for a while it looked like they might revolutionise the game and become a mainstream team, not a novelty act if you like. They lost 13-12 to England in Suva in 1973 although England, en route to New Zealand, would not award that game Test status while they defeated the 1977 Lions when they returned from their New Zealand tour that summer.
But gradually it all become too difficult and expensive incorporating them and, call me an old cynic, but I'm not sure the old IRB Countries really wanted a game that prioritised such freaky athleticism. Over the subsequent decades the laws seemed to evolve that seemed designed to neutralise their natural skills and attributes. They kept fighting the good fight though and perhaps now is their time.
