Suva’s changed. I mean, I think Suva has changed. I’ve never covered one of Fiji’s home games before. Maybe there are always this many Liverpudlians around the place. The views of the Irish Sea were definitely better than I expected. There were more pictures of Brian Labone and Howard Kendall up around the stadium, too.
The really odd bit was that every time the stadium announcer tried to get the 50,000 fans inside the ground to shout “Go Fiji” everyone just sat there and ignored him. Almost like they were supporting the opposition.
They did sing Swing Low when he revealed this was now the largest attendance for a Fiji home game. Given the team were 58 points down when he said it, it was odd none of the Fijians seemed to be too happy about it. I couldn’t see him, but maybe their chief executive was grinning.
Fiji made more money from this than they would have done if they had held it in their capital. But England have not played a game in Fiji since 1991 and despite being due to regularly play them home and away, they are not going to any time soon either.
Ostensibly this is because the national stadium in Suva is too small to host the new Nations Championship. The tournament regulations, cooked up by the 10 teams who make up Six Nations and Sanzaar, stipulate that venues need to have a minimum capacity of 25,000. It’s not really clear why.
The capacity crowd of 15,000 that turned out to watch Fiji’s 15-point victory over Scotland last year seemed like plenty given everyone there said it was one of the most raucous occasions they could remember.
There is a lot of talk about what Fiji are going to earn from all this. Fiji rugby say the money generated from these games will go towards a new 30,000-seat stadium. But such a small crowd turned out for their “home” game in Cardiff last week that they ended up struggling to make a profit on it. They made almost $500,000 (£373,000) from that one match against Scotland and money’s not all it cost. Home advantage counts. The fans I spoke to were adamant that the team would have beaten Wales last week had they had been playing in their own conditions, in front of their own crowd.
They will do better from this match at Everton, and against Scotland next week, when, incredibly, they will be the “home” team at Murrayfield, even though the tournament rubric states the match should be at a neutral venue.
The Fijian organising committee had done a good job of trying to make the place feel a little like home. They threw a stage up in the fan zone out front, along with a couple of merchandise trucks and craft and food stalls, they had Paradise Rootz performing before kick-off, along with a gospel choir and 40 strapping lads in traditional likuvau who charged around the grounds posing for photos with the locals. They performed a war dance on the pitch before the kick-off. “Bit different to what we usually get here,” said one of the watching coppers.
Sean Jansen (centre of picture) scored a try on his Ireland debut as they made it a perfect opening two wins from two in their Nations Championship campaign with a 36-20 bonus-point win over Japan in Australia.
Nick Timoney, Tom O’Toole, Robbie Henshaw and Tom Stewart were responsible for Ireland’s other tries, Ciarean Frawley kicked for six points and Harry Byrne for four to ensure they remained top of the Northern Hemisphere group.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell made nine changes from their narrow win over Australia, with Tadhg Beirne captaining for the first time and hooker Ronan Kelleher reaching a half-century of caps.
No 8 Jansen started, while his Connacht teammates Billy Bohan and Sam Illo were also handed debuts off the bench alongside Ulster back-rower Bryn Ward.
It did not take long for Japan to strike, capitalising on an error-strewn Ireland lineout that allowed Taira Main to run in their first try in the third minute. Ireland hit back six minutes later, keeping the pressure on after Henshaw took a big hit, and were rewarded when Timoney drove between the posts.
There was another poor lineout from Farrell’s side before Takuro Matsunaga pulled Japan back in front with a penalty, then Ireland took the lead when O’Toole crossed the whitewash in the 20th minute, aided by Stuart McCloskey.
The lead switched again as Matsunaga added a second penalty, but it was 19-13 to Ireland after Henshaw powered over with six minutes remaining in the first half.
Illo came on for his debut in a double-change for Ireland, who started the second half more clinically as fellow replacement Bundee Aki justified his introduction, latching on to a Henshaw pass.
His run got Ireland close, but it was Jansen who finally finished the job and secured the bonus point in the 50th minute.
Japan kept it a contest, taking advantage again after Ireland let themselves down from the lineout, paving the way for substitute hooker Hayate Era to battle his way to a try two minutes before the hour.
Byrne added a much-needed cushion with a penalty to make it 20-29 with 10 minutes remaining.
Japan were reduced to 14 men when Era was sent off with three minutes remaining before Stewart, set up brilliantly by Ulster teammate Nathan Doak, sealed the win. PA Media
Alec Waugh described an international at Twickenham “as a gathering of the clan” and this, too, was a reunion for members of the small Fijian diaspora. “We’re a small team, only nine people,” said one of the women on the organising committee, “and we’ve been working on this since February.” Truthfully, they gave their fans more to be proud about than the team did.
Fiji weren’t even the only “home” team playing away in the competition on Saturday. Japan had their “home” match against Ireland in Newcastle, New South Wales, despite beating Italy at the 25,000-seat Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo last week.
They had to do it because, along with Fiji, they’re one of the two “invitational” teams in the competition and Ireland, who are a founding member, simply refused to make the round trip to Japan in between their 33-31 victory over Australia in Sydney last week and their match against New Zealand in Auckland next week.
“You know why we’re playing Ireland in Newcastle? Ireland have all the power at World Rugby,” said Japan’s head coach, our old friend Eddie Jones. “So we have to play our home game, that should be in Tokyo, in Australia to make sure Ireland don’t have to travel too much – let’s be frank about it. We have to just suck it up.”
Not that Jones was going to blame them. He would have done exactly the same if he had the choice. The schedule is truly ludicrous. England’s includes 41,000km of travel in the space of three weeks. That’s enough to circumnavigate the planet. It is arduous for the players, impossible for the fans, and it makes punchlines out of player welfare and World Rugby’s Environmental Sustainability plans.
This is a very 21st century sort of sports tournament, in which all the old values rugby likes to pretend it still cherishes have been bent out of shape for the sake of the bottom line. It has been designed almost entirely for TV, and yes, it makes for pretty good viewing, too. But little old ideas like the importance of a level playing field are long gone.
