‘Good Defence Wins Games’
The Vodafone Fijian Bati side needs to reinforce its defensive work rate heading into their last pool game against Scotland in Newcastle, England, on Sunday (Fiji time).
At the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, the Scots stunned a star-studded Bati side 18-16 in their pool clash in Sydney, Australia.
The Fijians definitely would not want a repeat of this result.
Consistency in their tackles, completion rate, possession and running metres are vital to the Fijians.
Against Italy, the Bati ran in 10 tries and landed all the conversations.
According to NRL match stats the Bati defence was the difference in the match.
The Bati’s effective tackle rate had a 91.24 per cent succession rating as they made 229 tackles.
They passed the ball 223 times, received 421 with 22 offloads and 10 dummy passes.
From good defence they ran the ball 229 times gaining 2316 metres having 817 post contact metres with 10 line breaks and 65 tackle breaks.
Their possession strike rate was 61 per cent, and retain the ball more with 76 per cent completion rate.
They kicked the ball 17 times in the game and gained 416 kicking metres with five bombs and four grubbers.
During the match they conceded five penalties and 10 errors in the game.
According to interim coach Wise Kativerata good defence wins games in tournaments.
“I’m impressed with our defence because it enables us to win very important games,” he said.
“We will build on our defence against Scotland and most importantly for the quarter-final.
“Moving forward we have to continue keeping the ball and have possession in order to score tries.
“If we can defend our goal line and advance forward for good yardage we should give the Scots a good game.”
Against Scotland the Fiji Bati team will come out firing and it’s obvious that the players have been enjoying the typical Fijian style of play.
The Bati will build on their Fijian flair mixed with pace, power and structural play. That will make the difference in their game against Scotland on Sunday.
Feedback: simione.haravanua@fijisun.com.fj
