It was with much trepidation that I chose to stay up to watch Fiji’s last pool game against Wales for this year’s Rugby World Cup. To be honest, I really couldn’t picture them winning the match. I mean, seriously, looking at history, we’ve never won a single one against them. That and the performance over the previous matches against Japan, Canada and Australia was anything but impressive.

Of course, my grog buddy was quick to point out that the margin difference between Fiji and Wales each time we played was lessening over the years as we seem to have improved, with the last encounter a painful 11-10. However, the fact remained. We’ve never won against them.

So you can understand my hesitance at the thought of staying up until 3am on a sunday morning just to watch Fiji lose. Or so I thought.

It was around 2am that I finally mosied down to my neighbour’s house, ready to drown my sorrows in the murky waters that is kava, my mind already made up about the outcome of the game. The usual grog doppers were all gathered around the plastic bowl, misery seemingly settled in before I arrived.

“Look on the bright side,” they said, raising their hands in a vague gesture that was either defeat or grog dopiness, “at least when it happens, we can take out our frustration on the tv.”

“Sounds good to me,” I winked mischeviously.

When the tv sparked to life, the National Side was standing on the field, arms crossed on their chest, eyes all teary, belting out the Fiji National Anthem. I stood up of course. No matter how bad Fiji plays I have to salute my country Though I was slightly annoyed at the sight of grown men shedding a tear or two on International television. Nothing irks me more then a big muscular fijian dude crying during the anthem. Man up mate! We all know Fijians are proud of their country. Let the gameplay do the talking.

To make the long story short, we won.

And what a game that was. For the last few minutes, I didn’t sit down. Heck, we all didn’t sit down, grog dopiness be damned. For what seemed like an eternity, we were leading by a measley 4 points. Four points! And boy did we hold onto that ball like there was no tomorrow.

And that surprised me. I’ve seen Fiji play in all sorts of matches over the years, but with this game, the level of professionalism was such that at times I had to pinch myself to make sure I was still watching the same team that had struggled against the likes of Japan, let alone Canada.

Granted, there were times where indiscipline crept in, and there were still elements of ‘va na koro’ rugby here and there, but for the most part, the control of the ball, the fact that we won all of our line outs, the strength of the defense, the unnerving accuracy of nicky’s kicking, it was…heart warming to say the least.

I know I’ve always been a negative bastard, but damnit, there’s always a first time.

That was by far one of the best games I’ve seen Fiji play in awhile.

And I take off my provobial hat to them.

PS: I’m not the only one who was impressed by Fiji’s game.

Babasiga had a link to a sports writer’s blog post in the Guardian Unlimited. Basically he was blown away by the brilliance of the match, and apparently was live blogging right up until the last minute, right there at the game.

Best comment on the post?

image source: www.bbc.co.uk

“i’m pretty sure that seru rabeni isn’t human though…”

Agreed. With a hair style like that, he’s more Predator then Rugby Player.

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