Every player, whether local or overseas based in the Vodafone Flying Fijians will need to play to the same standard when they face the Wallabies on Saturday in Melbourne, Australia.

Lock forward Leone Nakarawa said there should be no excuses come game day for any player because it was an important test match which they needed to win.

And in order to do that, they needed to play at the same standard as the Aussies.

“There should be no excuses whatsoever,” Nakarawa said.

“It does not matter if you are a local or an overseas based player, this is the national team so everyone should play their part and to a certain standard.

“Playing in a test match is different to playing in club competition, the game is much tougher and there is a lot to play for.”

The last time Fiji played Australia was in the 2015 Rugby World Cup in Cardiff where Fiji lost 28-13.

And Nakarawa said Fiji needed to take their game to another notch if they wanted to move forward.

“Australia is one of the Tier One nations and I think the challenge is to bring the standard up to where they are and that is the biggest focus for us as a team,” he said.

“We have set a benchmark and the huge challenge now is to improve on our game, play as much as we can.

“Some players will be coming in and some will be going out so it will be up to the new players who come in to fill the spaces to play to that standard that we played in two years ago.

“This being a new year we need to keep on improving if we want to move forward.

“The boys are really looking forward to the game and we will need to do our talking out on the field.”

Fiji will take on Australia at 5pm on Saturday in Melbourne.

Edited by Osea Bola

Feedback:  justine.mannan@fijisun.com.fj