Fiji coach Graham Dewes has fired a strong warning to England ahead of their Rugby World Cup quarter-final contest this weekend. He said that his side are hopeful of putting Steve Borthwick’s men ‘to sleep’ as they look to reach the final four for the first time in the nation’s history.
Fiji have impressed on occasions in France but ended their pool stage campaign on a sour note, recording a shaky win over Georgia before being beaten by Portugal in one of the tournament’s biggest shocks in recent history.
Simon Raiwalui’s side have shown what they are capable of when beating Australia, though they will need to be at their very best if they are to overcome England at the Stade de Marseille. Fiji were victorious over Sunday’s opponents when they last met at Twickenham in August, and forwards coach Dewes feels that his team will have a spring in their step from that win.
Speaking ahead of the match, he said: “We’ll go in with humility, respect our opponents and understand they’ll come harder as we beat them last time around I think Fiji on its day is capable of shocking the world. We’ve done it in the past, and if we stick to our game plan, then we’ll do it again.
“On our day we can match anyone. Sometimes when we play tier-two nations, we drop our standards. We don’t plan to do it but things happen on the day. When we play the tier-one nations, if we get it right we put them to sleep.”
Dewes then went on to explain how the Fiji team have taken confidence from their Twickenham victory and with added pressure, the team are prepared to ‘go hard’ to ensure that they reach the semi-finals.
“[Beating England] has given us a lot of confidence,” the former Fiji star explained. “We believe now that we can match tier-one nations, not just England and Australia but we also pushed Wales close. For us now, it is do or die. We go hard at the weekend or we are going home early.
“We know there will be people, our family and friends, who will be supporting us come Sunday. They will be praying for us, they will be walking up the mountain to get reception to watch TV and support. We have the whole nation of Fiji behind us and that is really going to motivate us for the weekend.”
It remains to be seen whether Fiji are able to keep to their word and put England ‘to sleep’, or if the threat works against the team and sparks England into life on Sunday evening.
