RWC: Australia v Fiji - 23 September 16:45, Millenium Stadium(24 September 1:45 AEST)

[Highlander35]

Naka went to Glasgow as the 5th String lock at the beginning of the 13/14 season. His skillset is so good, combined with great work on the regular lock duties that he got bumped up to 4th string lock, and was shifted to 8 after Josh Strauss went down with injury on the eve of the finals, where he put in similarly immense performances.

This season he became our 2nd string lock, ahead of Captain Al Kellock and Tim Swinson, who's in the Scotland Squad. He's been even better this season, and was MOTM in the Pro12 final, creating 2 tries and having a buttload of offloads, carries both tight and wide, and never shirking his defensive duties.

 

[fatprop]

I do wonder which team Fiji will send out against Aus.

Will they throw their 1sts against England or 5 days later against Aus

 

[KOB1987]

I do wonder which team Fiji will send out against Aus.

Will they throw their 1sts against England or 5 days later against Aus

I'm only guessing but as they are showcasing in the game after the opening ceremony you'd think they'll put their best team on the field for that game. What that means for our game I don't know.

 

[qwerty51]

If I were Fiji

vs England - strongest side (opening ceremony, eyes on them)
vs Aus - 2nd string, concede (5 day turnaround)
vs Wales - strongest side, target a win (8 day turnaround)
vs Uruguay - best as possible, last game of the year (5 day turnaround)

 

[Viking]

If I were Fiji

vs England - strongest side (opening ceremony, eyes on them)
vs Aus - 2nd string, concede (5 day turnaround)
vs Wales - strongest side, target a win (8 day turnaround)
vs Uruguay - best as possible, last game of the year (5 day turnaround)

I think it will depend on if they beat England or not. They will want to try and progress so if they lose against England they will have to go for another upset against us.

If they cause an upset and beat England, then I would bet they would rest a heap of guys against us and target Wales.

I can't see any team putting out a 2nd string side and admitting defeat when there's still a small chance they could go to the next stages of the tournament.

Whats would you do... rest guys for a decent chance of 2 wins or go all out for an upset with the small chance of progressing?

 

[Groucho]

I think it will depend on if they beat England or not. They will want to try and progress so if they lose against England they will have to go for another upset against us.

If they cause an upset and beat England, then I would bet they would rest a heap of guys against us and target Wales.

I can't see any team putting out a 2nd string side and admitting defeat when there's still a small chance they could go to the next stages of the tournament.

Whats would you do. rest guys for a decent chance of 2 wins or go all out for an upset with the small chance of progressing?

Surely they'd target Wales rather than us to progress if they beat England?

 

[dru]

Wow. We seem to be talking about which team/teams that Fiji are going to take on "easy". Just wow. Surely the answer is NONE. Anyone expecting a B grade Fiji agin Wallabies is not reading the script.

Yes they will shuffle players, but no, no game will be taken as a "let this one pass".

 

[Groucho]

Wow. We seem to be talking about which team/teams that Fiji are going to take on "easy". Just wow. Surely the answer is NONE. Anyone expecting a B grade Fiji agin Wallabies is not reading the script.

Yes they will shuffle players, but no, no game will be taken as a "let this one pass".

I don't think anyone was talking about them taking it easy.

Choosing which team or teams to target to give yourself the best chance of qualifying isn't the same as "letting it pass". I reckon the Fjii players would be quite offended by the idea.

Our short turnaround is before Uruguay. Fiji's is before Australia. If Fiji beat England, it's not unreasonable that their B team's run will be against Australia, in order to target Wales and Uruguay.

The question is which players play which games. I doubt Fiji's script includes playing their best XV in all of them.

 

[Omar Comin']

But they have 8 days between Australia and Wales. So even if their best team face Australia they should still be relatively fresh for Wales. And Wales only have 5 days between England and Fiji.

Fiji have another 5 day turnaround before their final match with Uruguay and they'll surely play a weaker team in that game. What's the point in only playing your strongest team twice? If they were to beat England then surely they'd throw everything at Australia to give themselves a strong chance of topping the pool.

I reckon they'll probably play a slightly different team against us. They have some depth in certain positions (backrow and outside backs) so it might be advantageous playing the fresher guy in some cases. But in other positions there's a fair drop off from first choice to 2nd choice.

 

[BarneySF]

Dug out the old Betamax and found Fiji v France RWC 87. Absolute cracker of a game. Fiji ran it from everywhere.

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[BarneySF]

Clive Norling the ref. IIRC games reffed by CN were considered great to watch because he was generally not always able to keep up, so games were very free-flowing!


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[Viking]

Surely they'd target Wales rather than us to progress if they beat England?

Thats what I said! But if they lose to England then they have no choice but to start their strongest side against us. (if there goal is to progress which it surely is).

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Realistically Fiji aren't going to beat England or Australia but I still reckon they could influence the outcome of the Pool decider (Wales were IMO always gonna struggle to exit the Pool & the loss of Webb & esp Halfpenny now makes it even less likely).

Poms seem less comfortable against the ultra-physical PI style of play than your blokes so I believe there's a good chance their win over Fiji will cost them more in terms of sore/ damaged/ broken bodies than yours will..............

(Also, Poms will beat Fiji by weathering the initial storm then suffocating them with a kicking & set piece game Fiji won't be equipped to handle. Your blokes will IMO put far more points on Fiji than the Poms so if tries scored and/ or points differential become an issue you'll have the edge there, too).

 

[qwerty51]

England have a better back 3 than us IMO.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^^^ but won't use them much against Fiji for fear of ending up in the Smashed Him Bro World Cup Special Edition. They'll score a shitload of tries v Uruguay but so will you & England v Wales will be a dour (if not dire ) affair indeed, I'd expect your lot to put more points past them than England will.

 

[Groucho]

Thats what I said! But if they lose to England then they have no choice but to start their strongest side against us. (if there goal is to progress which it surely is).

Sorry, I was being thick. In that case I agree.

 

[Groucho]

But they have 8 days between Australia and Wales. So even if their best team face Australia they should still be relatively fresh for Wales. And Wales only have 5 days between England and Fiji.

Fiji have another 5 day turnaround before their final match with Uruguay and they'll surely play a weaker team in that game. What's the point in only playing your strongest team twice? If they were to beat England then surely they'd throw everything at Australia to give themselves a strong chance of topping the pool.

I reckon they'll probably play a slightly different team against us. They have some depth in certain positions (backrow and outside backs) so it might be advantageous playing the fresher guy in some cases. But in other positions there's a fair drop off from first choice to 2nd choice.

It's not just about rest, it's about risk. One of the reasons to play second string teams in knockout competitions is to reduce injury risk. McKee would look extremely foolish if he lost a couple of top players in a game he didn't have to win, then lost a game he could have, and thus failed to qualify.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Dug out the old Betamax and found Fiji v France RWC 87. Absolute cracker of a game. Fiji ran it from everywhere.

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Remember that game, it was a ripper indeed.

 

[Omar Comin']

It's not just about rest, it's about risk. One of the reasons to play second string teams in knockout competitions is to reduce injury risk. McKee would look extremely foolish if he lost a couple of top players in a game he didn't have to win, then lost a game he could have, and thus failed to qualify.

But in this scenario (where they beat England) if they then beat Australia they're in the box seat to win the pool. Winning the pool means a much greater chance of making the semi finals. Surely the goal is to go as far as possible.

And if they beat England then they'd clearly be a chance of beating both Australia and Wales. So trying to win only one of those games wouldn't really make sense to me. It's very unlucky to lose more than a couple of players in a game to injury, and I think that risk is worth taking.

 

[Groucho]

But in this scenario (where they beat England) if they then beat Australia they're in the box seat to win the pool. Winning the pool means a much greater chance of making the semi finals. Surely the goal is to go as far as possible.

And if they beat England then they'd clearly be a chance of beating both Australia and Wales. So trying to win only one of those games wouldn't really make sense to me. It's very unlucky to lose more than a couple of players in a game to injury, and I think that risk is worth taking.

I don't agree. Two big games in five days for their first XV is a risk they don't need to take. Aiming to top the pool by beating all four teams is unrealistic.

People genuinely fancying Fiji's chances should get on them now. A sly $100 will net you $50,000 to win the pool. A motzer! Qualifying will net you $3,300. I'm on them vs. England with the 27 point start.