Friday 10 June, 2005

Fiji need full support

By Jeremy Duxbury in Albany

The All Blacks proved far too strong, too fast, too fit, too slick, too organised... and just too professional for Fiji.

After the superb performance against the Maoris in Suva last week, many Fiji fans thought their team might be able to compete in certain areas of the game with New Zealand in Albany. But in harshly cold conditions, Fiji went down without so much as a struggle, being outclassed right across the park.

The Fiji forwards, who had contested the breakdown so vigorously against the Maoris, never showed up for this game; whilst the backs found themselves backpedalling without possession and unable to match the fitness and finesse of their counterparts.

The All Blacks scored 15 tries, and rarely went more than a few minutes between touchdowns as their pack won ball after ball, and the backs ran at will.

So slick were Graham Henry’s outfit that clean and quick ball came from nearly every ruck, and the unfit Fijians could only muster two or three phases of defence before they lagged well behind play.

As Fiji now prepare for their World Cup qualifiers this month and next against Tonga and Samoa, some serious questions need to be addressed over the distance the Tier II nations have fallen behind. On the same weekend as Fiji’s record hiding, Samoa got hammered 74-7 by Australia, Canada fell 60-3 at home to a second-string Wales team, while Romania lost a massive 134-3 in South Africa.

The gap between rich and poor that became so evident at the 2003 Rugby World Cup has widened even further. For all the talk and rhetoric of helping the Tier II teams, nothing serious has been done – the IRB set up a working committee to look into the matter 18 months ago, but so far no word on how we move forward.

Of course, as Wayne Pivac points out, the Island nations also have to help themselves.

One of the stars of Friday night’s show was Fijian Sitiveni Sivivatu, the All Black wing who danced his way to four tries on his debut. Also doing well off the bench in his first run in New Zealand colours was Tongan Sione Lauaki. Both these players were blooded last year by the Pacific Islanders, a concept now understood to have cost the Fiji Rugby Union several hundred thousand dollars and some of their key fixtures; thus having an adverse affect on rugby development in the islands.

Fiji have now refused to play any more PIRA fixtures until after the 2007 World Cup, and even then a serious review would need to take place on squad selection, when to play matches, and how to run the show.

Acknowledging that the nature of professional sport will always mean players like Sivivatu and Wallaby Radike Samo will be tempted to snub Fiji, Pivac stressed that the best solution is to improve the standard of domestic rugby in Fiji. To achieve that, some serious, serious dollars need to be invested into development.

The High Performance Unit and the Colonial Cup are the first two steps of the professional equation. The Colonial Cup pays the top 150 players and officials in the country for 10 weeks; and the HPU would pay, house and feed the top 50 local players for 12 months a year, giving them the best coaching available in an environment conducive to improving attitude, discipline and work ethics.

If the FRU succeeds in setting up the HPU (with IRB and Government help), the results on the field might begin to be seen in two to three years.

If the HPU doesn’t go ahead, then come the 2007 Rugby World Cup the horror show that we witnessed in Albany on Friday could well be repeated in France, but with the whole world watching.

 

Friday, 10 June, 2005
New Zealand 91 Fiji 0
North Harbour Stadium, Albany
Half-time: 50-0
Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Touch judges: Stuart Dickinson (Aus), Scott Young (Aus)
Crowd: 23,200

NEW ZEALAND: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Tana Umaga (capt), 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So’oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Ali Williams, 4 James Ryan, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Derren Witcombe, 1 Tony Woodcock
Tries: Sitivatu (4), Howlett (2), Umaga (2), Carter, Somerville, Mauger, So’oialo, Williams, Mealamu, Muliaina; Conversions: Carter (5), Mauger (3)
Coach: Graham Henry

FIJI: 15 Norman Ligairi, 14 Vilimoni Delasau, 13 Vili Satala (Epeli Ruivadra 58), 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Sireli Bobo, 10 Nicky Little, 9 Moses Rauluni – capt (Jacob Rauluni 65), 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Aca Ratuva (Sam Tabua 58), 6 Ifereimi Rawaqa (Jone Qovu 58), 5 Akuila Matanibukaca (Seva Rokobaro 47), 4 Isoa Domolailai (Seva Rokobaro 25-30), 3 Bill Cavubati (Jone Railomo 51), 2 Bill Gadolo, 1 Josese Bale.
Not used: Sunia Koto
Coach: Wayne Pivac

Scoring sequence:
7min – TRY NZ, Carter; conversion Carter – 7-0
14min – TRY NZ, Howlett; conversion Carter – 14-0
17min – TRY NZ, Sivivatu; conversion Carter – 21-0
20min – TRY NZ, Umaga – 26-0
27min – TRY NZ, Somerville – 31-0
31min – TRY NZ, Umaga; conversion Carter – 38-0
33min – TRY NZ, Sivivatu – 43-0
35min – TRY NZ, Mauger; conversion Carter – 50-0
Half-time
43min – TRY NZ, Sivivatu; conversion Mauger – 57-0
45min – TRY NZ, Williams; conversion Mauger – 64-0
50min – TRY NZ, So’oialo – 69-0
57min – TRY NZ, Howlett – 74-0
65min – TRY NZ, Mealamu; conversion Mauger – 81-0
71min – TRY NZ, Sivivatu – 86-0
75min – TRY NZ, Muliaina – 91-0
Full-time

Kicking success:

NZ:
Carter – 5/8
Mauger – 3/7

Fiji:
Little 0/1

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