Flying Fijians

The All Blacks were expecting a much stiffer contest than in their 102-0 romp against a weakened Tonga side last week, and the Fijians delivered with a physical challenge their hosts struggled to contain at times.

While a home win never really looked in doubt, five-pointers for the Fijians from Albert Tuisue and Mesulame Kunavula as well as a penalty try will give New Zealand coach Ian Foster much to ponder ahead of next week's second test in Hamilton.

"I'm pretty pleased really. They offered a pretty stern challenge.

The All Blacks will host Fiji in Dunedin on Saturday 10 July - the same location where they last fought in 2011.

Utility back Nemani Nadolo said these opportunities to play against the best do not come often for Pacific teams and that it will be a special moment for all the Fijian players.

"We're under no illusion that this is going to be an easy game. It's going to test us both mentality and physically," he said.

"Our coaching staff are doing their best to prepare us and we, ourselves, are doing as much as we can to be ready for this game."

The Suva-born winger was first approached by Fiji ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and then prior to their European tour last year.

But after two years of injury struggles, which included tearing his right ACL and a pectoral tear in 2020, Mataele said he wanted to be back to his best before taking on the challenge.

"For me personally I want to get into the groove of things where I'm playing good rugby, I'm playing rugby on back to back weeks and gaining that confidence back and then get to that international stage," he said.

Fiji are set to play back to back matches against New Zealand in Dunedin on July 10th, and again a week later in Hamilton.

With a mix of experienced and young players confirmed for the upcoming games, Head Coach Vern Cotter said they need to keep things simple.

"It's an exciting squad and a perfect opportunity for the players who have been training well and the exposure within the squad against other confirmed international players will be fruitful," he said.

"We are looking forward to getting this group together and we will have to keep things simple."

Fiji have played New Zealand nine previous occasions, including five tests, the last of which was a 60-14 defeat in the last ever test at Carisbrook in Dunedin in 2011.

Fiji Rugby chief executive John O'Connor said they were also in talks to host Ireland during the July test window, when the British and Irish Lions were scheduled to be in South Africa.

"I think next year we have the All Blacks so we will look forward to preparing for that and [hosting] Ireland and hopefully we have that vaccine and the test schedule for next year continues as per plan."

The Flying Fijians ended a difficult six week tour with a commanding 38-24 victory over Georgia in Edinburgh, with eight players making their test debut and returning veteran Nemani Nadolo bagging a hat-trick in what proved to be their only match of the tournament following a Covid-19 outbreak within the squad.

Fiji Rugby CEO John O'Connor said it was just reward after a trying period for the players, who spent two week in isolation in their hotel rooms while tests against Portugal, France, Italy and Scotland were called off.

"We are a community-based society," he said.

Vern Cotter has named nine debutants under captain Semi Radradra with the young flankers Johnny Dyer and Mesulame Kunavula together with Lock Temo Mayanavanua named in the starting lineup.

Sunday will be the Flying Fijians first and last game in the Autumn Nations Cup after their earlier pool matches against France, Italy and Scotland were called off because of an outbreak of Covid-19 in the team.

Despite having no option but to see France, Italy and Scotland all awarded 28-0 bonus-point group wins, Nadolo and co are still clinging to the hope that they will eventually have a sufficient clean bill of health and will be able to participate in a December 5 play-off match, most likely against Georgia at Murrayfield.  

The decision was taken after the squad underwent a new round of Covid-19 testing on Monday.

In a statement, tournament organisers Six Nations Rugby said they remain in constant contact with the Fijian squad to address the situation.

"The main priority at present is the welfare of all players and management."

The Fiji squad, which includes 32 players and the management staff, is currently self-isolating in their hotel rooms at their tournament base in Saint-Galmier.

Additional test were carried out on the Flying Fijians squad after a player - understood to be centre Semi Radradra - tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.

Organisers of the Autumn Nations Cup made the decision to cancel the Test in Vannes on Friday after the squad returned the four new positive tests, which also affected a number of close contacts.

The match was scheduled to take place on Sunday local time but due to the tight schedule it was not possible to postpone the fixture to a later date.