Fiji national rugby union team

Fiji
Nickname(s)	Flying Fijians
Emblem	Palm
Union	Fiji Rugby Union
Head coach	John McKee
Captain	Akapusi Qera
Most caps	Nicky Little (71)
Top scorer	Nicky Little (670)
Top try scorer	Sanivalati Laulau (20)
Home stadium	ANZ National Stadium
First colours	Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	10 (as of 6th October 2016)
Highest	9 (2015)
Lowest	16 (2012)
First international
	Samoa 0–6 Fiji; (Apia, Samoa; 18 August 1924)
Biggest win
	Fiji 120–4 Niue; (Apia, Samoa; 10 September 1983)
Biggest defeat
	New Zealand 91–0 Fiji; (Albany, New Zealand; 12 October 2005)
World Cup
Appearances	6 (First in 1987)
Best result	Quarter-finals, 1987, 2007
Website	www.fijirugby.com

The Fiji national rugby union team competes every four years at the Rugby World Cup, and their best performances were the 1987 and 2007 tournaments when they defeated Argentina and Wales respectively to reach the quarterfinals. Fiji also regularly plays test matches during the June and November test windows. Fiji also plays in the Pacific Tri-Nations, and has won the most Pacific Tri-Nations Championships of the three participating teams.

Fiji is one of the few countries where rugby union is the main sport. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000. One of the problems for Fiji is simply getting their rugby players to play for Fiji as a country, as many have contracts in Europe or with Super Rugby teams where the money is far more rewarding. The repatriated salaries of its overseas stars have become an important part of some local economies.

The cibi (pronounced [ˈðimbi]) war dance is performed by the Fiji rugby team before each Test match. It has been used on the rugby field since 1939, though its origins date back to the country's warring times with its Pacific neighbours.

History

Early years

Rugby was first played in Fiji by European and Fijian soldiers of the Native Constabulary at Ba, on Viti Levu Island in 1884. In 1913 a Union was founded for the European settlers.

In December 1913, the All Blacks, who had been touring so very successfully in California, were on their way back to New Zealand. The Fiji RFU arranged a game with them at Albert Park, the first representative match to be played in the colony. The Fiji team were Europeans. The All Blacks won 67–3; Fiji's points came from a try scored by their captain and coach, PJ Sheehan. By 1914 a 'native competition' was started and in 1915 a Fiji Native Union was begun and became affiliated to the Fiji RFU.

Inter-war period

Fiji played their first international against Western Samoa in Apia, Samoa on 18 August 1924. Fiji's 20-man squad came exclusively from the five registered native clubs of the time. The match was played at 7 am to allow the Samoans time to get to work afterwards and was played on a pitch with a large tree on the halfway line. Fiji wore black and won 6–0 despite playing barefoot. The return match was won 9–3 by Samoa to draw the series. The first-ever Fiji test team continued their overseas adventure with a nine-match tour of Tonga. Though Fiji lost the first test played in Nukuʻalofa 9–6, they were not to lose again, taking the second test 14–3 then drawing the decider 0–0. They won all six of the matches against non-test opposition.

Auckland University College were the first overseas side to visit Fiji in 1926, The Kiwi students played the Fiji Europeans and finished the three-match series with a win, loss and draw. Tonga also visited Fiji that year and for the first time Fiji played in their present strip of white jersey, palm tree badge and black shorts. The three match series finished level with Tonga winning the first test 9–6; Fiji winning the second 14–3 and the final game a 0–0 draw.

During the 1927 season, a General Meeting was called for the purpose of arranging a return visit to New Zealand at the invitation of Auckland University. Some 30 players expressed their willingness to make the trip, but after all arrangements had been made, there were insufficient players available so management cancelled the trip, much to the regret of Auckland.

Between 1924 and 1938 Fiji and Tonga played three test series every alternate year. During this period this was the only representative rugby union that Fiji played. Matches between the two Pacific nations were hard fought; many have claimed that the ancient feuding wars between the Islanders were transplanted onto the rugby field. Troubles during the third Test of Fiji's 1928 tour to Tonga forced the game to be abandoned with Tonga losing 11–8

The first New Zealand Māori team to visit Fiji came in 1938. Fijians played in boots for the first time but there was still a tendency to take off boots during the match and throw them to the touch-line. On the five-match tour, the Māori beat Fiji 2nd XV and Fiji Europeans before playing a three match series. The first test ended in a 3–3 draw, the second an 11–5 win for the Fijians and the Māori won the final test 6–3 to square the series.

In 1939 Fiji toured New Zealand for the first time. Fiji's captain for that tour, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, decided that his side should have a war dance to rival the haka. He approached Ratu Bola, the high chief of the warrior clan of Navusaradave in Bau, who taught them the cibi which has been Fiji's pre-match ritual ever since. With many players still preferring to play barefoot, the Fijians played with a care-free spirit and created history by becoming the first team to go through a full tour of New Zealand unbeaten, winning seven and drawing one, a record that stands to this day. They played and beat the Māori again 14–4.

Post-war era

Fiji successfully toured New Zealand again in 1951. They beat the New Zealand Māori 21–14. Fiji's first tour of Australia helped the Australian Rugby Union recover from the brink of bankruptcy in 1952. The Test series was drawn 1–1 in front of record crowds. Australia won the first test 15–9 but the Fijians took the second with a 17–15 win.

A second tour of Australia took place in 1954 and again drew record crowds. Again Australia won the first test but only by 22–19. The test series was drawn 1–1 after Fiji won the second test 18–16. The same year Fiji played host to Western Samoa. Fiji toured New Zealand again in 1957 and beat the Māoris 36–13 in Dunedin and 17–8 in Wellington, then defeated a strong Auckland team 38–17.

In 1964 Fiji toured Europe for the first time, they played five memorable games in Wales, culminating in a classic encounter in Cardiff that was talked about for years. Wales won 28–22 but conceded six tries for just the second time in their history. In 1970 a rampant Fijian side destroyed the Barbarians 29–9 at Gosforth. A last-minute try saw New Zealand safely through 14–13 over Fiji in Suva in 1974.

In August 1977 the British Lions made a stopover in Fiji on the way home from their tour of New Zealand. Fiji beat them 25–21 at Buckhurst Park, Suva. In 1982 Fiji beat Vancouver XV to begin a 15-match winning streak through to 1984.

Modern era

Fiji played their first full test against Wales in Cardiff in 1985, the home pack dominating in a 40–3 win with two tries to Phil Davies. Fiji were also heavily beaten by Llanelli and Cardiff, but lost by just one point in their test with Ireland.

Wales visited Suva the following year, where captain Dai Pickering's summer tour was to a premature end when he suffered concussion. Richard Moriarty took over and saw his side's 13–0 lead cut to a single point before Wales pulled away for a 15–22 win.

In 1987 Fiji made the quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup and seemed about to beat France, the

In 1991 Rugby World Cup Fiji lost all three of its matches and finished bottom of its pool. Wales' third test win over Fiji came in Suva in 1994. The tourists fielded a weakened line-up to allow all their squad a game, but they were good enough to run out 23–8 victors.

Fiji had a troubled tour of Wales and Ireland in 1995, losing six of nine games with defeat to Neath, Cardiff and Pontypridd. However, they managed to run Wales close at the Arms Park, losing only 15–19 win. They failed to qualify for the 1995 World Cup having lost to Tonga and Western Samoa.

Fiji rebuilt ahead of the 1999 World Cup, new coach Brad Johnstone instilling discipline and determination into their set-piece play. They made a winning start by beating Canada and Namibia and again seemed about to beat France in Toulouse when things went wrong. A controversial refereeing performance from Paddy O'Brien was felt to have cost them a win over France, Fiji losing 28–19. They did make the quarter-final play-off but lost 45–24 to England at Twickenham. Soon after the tournament Johnstone departed for Italy.

In 2001 Fiji were crowned Pacific Rim champions, defeating Samoa 28–17 in the final in Tokyo. Fiji's played Wales again at the Millennium Stadium in November 2002. Two tries and 21 points from the boot of Stephen Jones helped the home side to a comfortable 58–14 win.

Fiji began their 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifying campaign in June 2002 when the three leading Pacific Island nations faced each other in a round robin in the second round of the Oceania zone qualifiers. The Fijians started with defeats of Samoa and Tonga, but their loss to Samoa on home soil meant that they had to beat Tonga by more than 20 points to finish top of the pool. This they duly did with a 47–20 win in Nadi. At the World Cup they beat Japan 41–13 and narrowly survived a scare against the US Eagles winning 19–18. However a 20–22 loss against Scotland and an 18–61 beating by France saw them finish third in their pool and fail to qualify for the knock-out stage.

Results since have been mixed for Fiji. Although they have traditionally been the strongest of the Pacific Nations, they were beaten 29–27 by New Zealand Maori in 2004 and went down 91–0 by the All Blacks. In July 2006, five Fiji internationals were banned from playing international rugby for the rest of the year following a drunken brawl in Japan after a Pacific Five Nations match. [1] Their 2007 season started off as one of Fiji's worst seasons. They had a very inexperienced team and lost to both pacific rivals Tonga and Samoa, and suffered heavy defeats to Australia and the Junior All Blacks. The only win for Fiji at the 2007 "Pacific 6 Nations" was against Japan, however they did manage an unexpected 14–14 draw against Australia A. With most of Fiji's more experienced players back in the team Fiji slowly improved in the 2007 world cup to qualify for the quarter finals for the first time in 20 years.

2007 Rugby World Cup

Fiji were placed in Pool B of the 2007 Rugby World Cup along with Wales, Canada, Japan and Australia. After beating Japan and Canada in close matches, Fiji rested several key players against Australia for the crucial game against Wales. Australia defeated Fiji by 55–12. Fiji's fate in the tournament came down to a "winner advances" game against Wales which Fiji won 38–34 and qualified for the quarter-finals for the second time. Former Wallaby great Michael Lynagh described the see-sawing match as one of the best matches "of all time". Fiji lost their quarter final match against South Africa, however their above expectations performance in the tournament resulted in them moving up to 9th in the world rankings – their highest ever position. Shannon Fraser and Gregg Mumm from Australia acted as assistant coaches for the period leading up to the world cup and were accredited for much of the Fijians sides success.^{[citation needed]}

2011 Rugby World Cup

Fiji was placed in Pool D of the 2011 Rugby World Cup along with South Africa, Wales, Samoa and Namibia. Fiji won their first match against Namibia with 49–25. But it couldn't manage to repeat 2007 World Cup performance. They lost to South Africa, Wales, Samoa with a huge margin. Final scores were 3–49 against South Africa, 7–27 against Samoa & 0–66 against Wales.[8]

Wins against Tier 1 nations

9 August 1952	Australia	15–17	Fiji	Australia Sydney Cricket Ground
	Try: Cox Shehadie Stapleton Windon Drop: Solomon	Report	Try: Ralagi Salabogi Con: Vatubua Pen: Vatubua Ranavue Drop: Ranavue	Attendance: 42,004 Referee: Australia Don Furness (Australia)

26 June 1954	Australia	16–18	Fiji	Australia Sydney Cricket Ground
	Try: Cross Shehadie Con: Barker (2) Pen: Barker (2)	Report	Try: Saukuru Seruvatu Pen: Nawalu Ranavue (3)	Attendance: 33,099 Referee: Australia Don Furness (Australia)

24 May 1987	Argentina	9–28	Fiji	New Zealand Rugby Park, Hamilton
	Try: Travaglini Con: Porta Pen: Porta	Report	Try: Gale Naivilawasa Savai Nalaga Con: Koroduadua (2) Rokowailoa Pen: Koroduadua	Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Scotland Jim Fleming (Scotland)

26 May 1998	Fiji	51–26	Scotland	Fiji National Stadium, Suva
	Try: Lasagavibau (3) Naevo Veitayaki Waqabitu Con: Little Serevi (4) Pen: Little Serevi	Report	Try: Bulloch Gilmour Con: Lee (2) Pen: Lee (4)	Attendance: 20,000 Referee: New Zealand Paul Honiss (New Zealand)

28 August 1999	Italy	32–50	Fiji	Italy Stadio Tommaso Fattori, L'Aquila
	Try: Checchinato Martin Pucciariello Con: Domínguez Pen: Domínguez (5)	Report	Try: Satala (2) Serevi Tiko Vunibaka Con: Little (5) Pen: Little (5)	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: England Stewart Piercy (England)

15 July 2000	Fiji	43–9	Italy	Fiji Churchill Park, Lautoka
	Try: Ligairi Little Raiwalui Satala Vunibaka Con: Little (3) Pen: Little (4)	Report	Pen: Mazzariol Pez (2)	Attendance: 11,000 Referee: South Africa Mark Lawrence (South Africa)

17 July 2006	Fiji	29–18	Italy	Fiji Churchill Park, Lautoka
	Try: Caucaunibuca Ligairi Rauluni Salabogi Con: Bai (3) Pen: Bai	Report	Try: Lo Cicero Parisse Con: Pez Pen: Pez (2)	Referee: South Africa Marius Jonker (South Africa)

29 September 2007	Wales	34–38	Fiji	France Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
	Try: Popham 34' c S Williams 45' c G Thomas 48' m M Jones 51' c M Williams 73' m Con: Hook (1/1) S Jones (2/4) Pen: S Jones (1/2) 5'	Report	Try: Qera 16' c Delasau 19' m Leawere 25' c Dewes 77' c Con: Little (3/4) Pen: Little (4/5) 21', 24' 54', 60'	Attendance: 37,080 Referee: Australia Stuart Dickinson (Australia)

7 June 2014	Fiji	25–14	Italy	Fiji National Stadium, Suva^[1]
15:10 FJT (UTC+12)	Try: Nadolo 19' m Waqaniburotu 66' c Nalaga 79' c Con: Ralulu (0/1) Nadolo (2/2) 62', 79' Pen: Ralulu (0/1) Nadolo (2/2) 65', 71'	Report (In Italian)	Try: Penalty Try (2) 9' c, 76' c Con: Orquera (2/2) 10', 76' Pen: Orquera (0/2)	Attendance: 12,000 Referee: JP Doyle (England)

17 June 2017	Fiji	22–19	Italy	Fiji National Stadium, Suva
14:40 FJT (UTC+12)				Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)

24 June 2017	Fiji	27–22	Scotland	ANZ National Stadium, Suva
14:30 FJT (UTC+12)	Try: Yato 37' m Seniloli 62' c Con: Volavola (1/2) 63' Pen: Volavola (5/6) 25', 36', 46', 56', 68'		Try: Ford 30' c Jackson 53' c Brown 75' m Con: Jackson (2/3) 31', 54' Pen: Jackson (1/1) 61'	Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)

Record

Top 30 as of 18 March 2024^[2]

Rank

Change*

Team

Points

1

South Africa

094.54

2

Ireland

090.69

3

New Zealand

089.80

4

France

087.92

5

England

085.75

6

Scotland

082.82

7

Argentina

080.68

8

1

Italy

079.41

9

1

Australia

077.48

10

2

Wales

077.26

11

Fiji

076.38

12

Japan

074.27

13

Georgia

074.02

14

Samoa

072.23

15

1

Tonga

071.57

16

1

Portugal

070.28

17

United States

067.94

18

Uruguay

067.39

19

Spain

064.37

20

Romania

061.66

21

Canada

060.90

22

Namibia

060.56

23

Chile

060.49

24

Hong Kong

059.80

25

Russia

058.06

26

Switzerland

057.44

27

Netherlands

057.29

28

1

Belgium

055.89

29

1

Brazil

055.37

30

1

Korea

053.46

* Change from the previous week

{{{2}}}'s historical rankings

See or edit source data.

Source: World Rugby^[2]
Graph updated to 4 March 2024

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Fiji national XV at test level up until 10 July 2017.^[3]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Argentina	4	1	3	0	25.00%	96	130	−34
Australia	21	2	18	1	9.52%	248	611	−363
Barbarian	1	0	1	0	0.00%	19	43	−24
Belgium	1	1	0	0	100.00%	76	0	+76
British and Irish Lions	1	1	0	0	100.00%	25	21	+4
Canada	10	7	3	0	70.00%	314	191	+123
Canada XV	1	1	0	0	100.00%	13	3	+10
Chile	1	1	0	0	100.00%	41	16	+25
Classic All Blacks	1	1	0	0	100.00%	33	14	+19
Cook Islands	2	2	0	0	100.00%	161	13	+148
England	7	0	7	0	0.00%	109	303	−194
England XV	3	0	3	0	0.00%	38	92	−54
France	9	0	9	0	0.00%	111	359	−248
France XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	4	13	−9
Georgia	2	1	1	0	50.00%	27	33	−6
Hong Kong	3	3	0	0	100.00%	155	33	+122
Ireland	3	0	3	0	0.00%	31	149	−118
Ireland XV	2	0	2	0	0.00%	0	61	−61
Italy	11	6	5	0	56.00%	265	263	+2
Japan	17	14	3	0	82.35%	467	312	+155
Māori All Blacks	29	7	20	2	24.14%	383	517	−134
Namibia	2	2	0	0	100.00%	116	43	+73
New Zealand	5	0	5	0	0.00%	50	364	−314
New Zealand XV	5	0	5	0	0.00%	25	155	−130
Niue	1	1	0	0	100.00%	120	4	+116
Papua New Guinea	3	3	0	0	100.00%	253	3	+250
Portugal	2	2	0	0	100.00%	62	30	+32
Romania	3	2	1	0	66.67%	70	42	+28
Samoa	50	27	20	3	54.00%	977	880	+97
Scotland	7	2	5	0	28.57%	172	204	−32
Scotland XV	2	0	2	0	0.00%	22	53	−31
Solomon Islands	2	2	0	0	100.00%	199	13	+186
South Africa	3	0	3	0	0.00%	41	129	−88
Spain	1	1	0	0	100.00%	39	20	+19
Tonga	90	61	26	3	67.78%	1761	1191	+570
United States	6	5	1	0	83.33%	143	97	+46
Uruguay	2	2	0	0	100.00%	86	39	+47
Wales	11	1	9	1	9.09%	145	329	−184
Wales XV	2	0	2	0	0.00%	33	59	−26
Total	327	159	158	10	48.62%	6930	6847	+83

World Cup record

World Cup record								World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
Australia/New Zealand 1987	Quarter-final	4	1	0	3	72	132	Automatically qualified
France/Ireland/UK 1991	Pool Stage	3	0	0	3	27	63	Automatically qualified
South Africa 1995	Pool Stage	Did not qualify						2	1	0	1	26	34
Wales 1999	Quarter-final playoff	4	2	0	2	148	113	2	2	0	0	73	17
Australia 2003	Pool Stage	4	2	0	2	98	114	4	3	0	1	123	80
France 2007	Quarter-final	5	3	0	2	134	173	4	3	0	1	74	83
New Zealand 2011	Pool Stage	4	1	0	3	59	167	Automatically qualified
England 2015	Pool Stage	4	1	0	3	84	101	1	1	0	0	108	6
Japan 2019	To be determined							To be determined
Total	7/8	28	10	0	18	622	863	13	10	0	3	404	220

Kit history

Fiji traditionally plays with a home kit consisting of a white shirt, black shorts and black and white hooped socks. The away kit traditionally used to be a white and black hooped shirt with white shorts and hooped socks, although since KooGa's tenure as supplier, colours such as light blue or black were used.

Kit Suppliers:

1970s-2003 Canterbury
2004-2005 Cotton Traders
2005-2012 KooGa
2012-2016 BLK
2017- ISC

Sponsors:

1994-1998: National Bank of Fiji
1998-2003: Vodafone
2004-2005: Digicel
2005-2007: Fiji Flour Mills
2009-2014: Fiji Airways
2014: Vodafone

Current squad

On 9 May, John McKee named an extended squad ahead of Fiji's 2017 June tests against Australia (10 June), Italy (17 June) and Scotland (24 June) and their 2017 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup / 2019 RWC Oceania qualification campaign in July.^[4]

With injury to Nemani Nadolo, Benito Masilevu was called up to the squad ahead of the Australian test.

Head Coach: John McKee
Caps Updated: 10 July 2017

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Sunia Koto	Hooker	(1980-04-15) April 15, 1980 (age 44)	55	Mâcon
Jale Sassen	Hooker	(1992-09-06) September 6, 1992 (age 31)	1	Suva
Talemaitoga Tuapati	Hooker	(1985-08-16) August 16, 1985 (age 38)	37	Provence
Lee Roy Atalifo	Prop	(1988-03-10) March 10, 1988 (age 36)	9	Unattached
Mosese Ducivaki	Prop		1	Naitasiri
Campese Ma'afu	Prop	(1984-12-19) December 19, 1984 (age 39)	46	Northampton Saints
Peni Ravai	Prop	(1990-06-16) June 16, 1990 (age 33)	22	Aurillac
Manasa Saulo	Prop	(1989-04-06) April 6, 1989 (age 35)	32	London Irish
Kalivati Tawake	Prop	(1988-11-16) November 16, 1988 (age 35)	4	Suva
Joeli Veitayaki Jr.	Prop	(1986-03-14) March 14, 1986 (age 38)	5	Naitasiri Highlanders
Leone Nakarawa	Lock	(1988-04-02) April 2, 1988 (age 36)	43	Racing 92
Tevita Cavubati	Lock	(1987-08-12) August 12, 1987 (age 36)	19	Worcester Warriors
Api Ratuniyarawa	Lock	(1986-07-11) July 11, 1986 (age 37)	25	Northampton Saints
Sikeli Nabou	Lock	(1988-03-05) March 5, 1988 (age 36)	1	Biarritz Olympique
Naulia Dawai	Flanker	(1987-06-26) June 26, 1987 (age 36)	8	Connacht
Viliame Mata	Flanker	(1991-10-22) October 22, 1991 (age 32)	3	Edinburgh
Akapusi Qera (c)	Flanker	(1984-04-24) April 24, 1984 (age 40)	58	Montpellier
Mosese Voka	Flanker	(1985-06-07) June 7, 1985 (age 38)	4	Suva
Dominiko Waqaniburotu	Flanker	(1986-04-20) April 20, 1986 (age 38)	34	Brive
Peceli Yato	Flanker	(1993-01-17) January 17, 1993 (age 31)	9	Clermont Auvergne
Nemani Nagusa	Number 8	(1988-06-21) June 21, 1988 (age 35)	9	Nadroga
Nikola Matawalu	Scrum-half	(1989-03-08) March 8, 1989 (age 35)	32	Exeter Chiefs
Henry Seniloli	Scrum-half	(1989-06-15) June 15, 1989 (age 34)	15	Timișoara Saracens
Serupepeli Vularika	Scrum-half	(1990-04-29) April 29, 1990 (age 34)	9	Suva
Ben Volavola	Fly-half	(1991-01-13) January 13, 1991 (age 33)	18	Melbourne Rebels
Levani Botia	Centre	(1989-03-14) March 14, 1989 (age 35)	8	La Rochelle
Vereniki Goneva	Centre	(1984-04-05) April 5, 1984 (age 40)	45	Newcastle Falcons
John Stewart	Centre	(1988-02-17) February 17, 1988 (age 36)	1	Suva
Asaeli Tikoirotuma	Centre	(1986-06-24) June 24, 1986 (age 37)	20	London Irish
Jale Vatubua	Centre	(1991-08-30) August 30, 1991 (age 32)	4	Pau
Eroni Vasiteri	Centre	(1989-05-27) May 27, 1989 (age 34)	3	Nadroga
Albert VuliVuli	Centre	(1985-05-26) May 26, 1985 (age 38)	16	Racing 92
Benito Masilevu	Wing	(1989-10-07) October 7, 1989 (age 34)	9	Brive
Nemani Nadolo	Wing	(1988-01-31) January 31, 1988 (age 36)	26	Montpellier
Timoci Nagusa	Wing	(1987-07-14) July 14, 1987 (age 36)	27	Montpellier
Patrick Osborne	Wing	(1987-06-14) June 14, 1987 (age 36)	5	Highlanders
Josua Tuisova	Wing	(1994-02-04) February 4, 1994 (age 30)	2	Toulon
Kini Murimurivalu	Fullback	(1989-05-15) May 15, 1989 (age 34)	18	La Rochelle
Metuisela Talebula	Fullback	(1991-05-24) May 24, 1991 (age 32)	22	Bordeaux Bègles