IN PREVIOUS seasons, Fiji touring teams were looked upon as ‘a soft touch’, but not now. Ireland host the side at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday at 3.10pm.
Funding from World Rugby, TV rights, and the raising of their fitness levels have provided a game changer for Fiji.
In last year’s World Cup, they reached the quarter finals, beating Australia on their way, and Ireland will have to show full concentration over the 80 minutes if they are to avoid defeat.
Many of the Fijians ply their trade with English and French clubs and outside centre Waisale Nayacalevu, who plays with Sale Sharks, is sure to test the Irish defence.
Ireland coach Andy Farrell will be well prepared, saying ahead of the game that “we’ll see how the bodies fare up after last week, but we do need to have a think about how we roll on because Fiji are unbelievably dangerous as we saw last week against Wales”.
There will certainly be changes with Munster pair Craig Casey and Calvin Nash likely to be involved.
It will be interesting to see if Farrell makes a change at 10. Jack Crowley had an almost perfect outing against Argentina at the weekend, scoring a try, a drop goal, and two conversions, but there appears to be a strong lobby inside the Pale to make a change.
The cheer that greeted Leinster’s Sam Prendergast’s arrival as a replacement for the Munster out-half did not go unnoticed.
The news that Johnny Sexton has joined the Ireland staff as fly-half coach can only be of benefit.
Much attention over the next few days is sure to be piled on Ireland’s 37-year-old loose-head Cian Healy who, if selected, will pass Brian O’Driscoll’s 133 caps and become Ireland’s all-time cap leader, followed by Garryowen and Munster’s Conor Murray on 119.
A win for Ireland is essential and there is enough talent in the 35-man squad to get the required victory.
