A twinkle is rarely far from the eye of the Fiji captain, Waisea Nayacalevu, or a beaming smile from his face. Asked if it is special to be playing England on Sunday in Fiji’s first World Cup quarter‑final in 16 years he highlights, with a mischievous grin, how the Pacific Island is no longer under colonial rule. Quizzed about how much of an asset it is to have the openside flanker Levani Botia in Fiji’s ranks, he simply responds: “Have you watched him play?!”
Nayacalevu adopts a gravely serious tone when discussing the tragedy that has befallen the Fiji camp during this tournament, however. Josua Tuisova learned of the death of his seven-year-old son in the buildup to his side’s victory over Georgia but he stayed with his teammates, rather than return to Fiji, in order to aid their pursuit of a place in the knockout stages. Before the match against Portugal on Sunday the head coach, Simon Raiwalui, had said just that “it won’t be discussed, we’re keeping it private”, but after Fiji squeezed through to the knockout stages with a losing bonus point Nayacalevu paid a glowing tribute to his centre partner.
“Everyone was sad about the news and we have all been trying to look after him,” he said. “He’s been sad, but he’s really strong. If it was me, I don’t know if I could do what he is doing. We keep encouraging him and telling him he’s OK. He [Tuisova’s son] has gone to a better place. He has managed that well and controlled it well – his emotions. I am proud of him and proud of the sacrifice he has made for the team. He has stuck with us. Words can’t express how thankful I am to him for doing that for the team.”
And so Tuisova, Nayacalevu and the rest of the Flying Fijians head to Marseille for what is only their third appearance in the knockout stages and a clash with England. They have had a curious pool stage – bookended by narrow defeats in arguably the two most entertaining matches of the tournament with wins against Australia and Georgia in between.
They would have qualified before meeting Portugal had they beaten Georgia with a bonus point but the tension in both matches has been palpable. You sense that now Fiji have achieved what they set out to, there will be no such nervousness against England. All the more so because they claimed a first win against them at Twickenham in August – a performance that Raiwalui believes demonstrates his side are “comfortable” keeping company with the established nations.
“You guys are watching, you can see [the anxiety],” Nayacalevu said. “But I’m proud of the boys, it’s going to give them relief. It was our main goal to be at this stage, to qualify for the quarter-finals and we’ve made it. I’m pretty confident in the boys because I know they’ll turn up on the day. There are mixed emotions but we’re glad we’ve made it to the quarters. It’s been 16 years so it’s huge for us.”
Nayacalevu and co can take heart from how close Samoa ran England last Saturday – “unlucky!” was his pithy verdict – as well as inspiration from the class of 2007. Back then, Fiji reached the last eight thanks to a pool-stage victory against Wales and gave South Africa an almighty scare in the quarter-finals, also in Marseille.
Indeed, the fixture on Sunday will effectively be a home match for Nayacalevu given he plays for Toulon and he has only fond memories of his 2007 heroes, including the late Seru Rabeni and Seremaia Bai, who is now Fiji’s kicking coach. “I loved them,” he recalled. “I was a very little boy! I was watching it and cheering from right at the back!”
Fiji will be only too aware that they must sharpen up significantly before Sunday if they are to threaten a first appearance in the semi-finals but there is a confidence that, if they can bring their “A” game, and deliver the sort of performance they did at Twickenham, or against Australia in France, then Steve Borthwick’s side are in for a difficult afternoon.
“Someone said that Fijian physicality has been dominant and it is part of our gameplan and our system,” Nayacalevu said. “[England] have big ball-carriers in the team – all the loosies [back-rowers] and the two props. We will go and look at them again. We will see their weaknesses and plan for that.” Have they got a few weaknesses to exploit? “Yeah, they’ve got a few – they’ve got a few!”
