Flying Fijians head coach Simon Raiwalui praised the leadership of captain, Waisea Nayacalevu, following their 17-12 win over Georgia on Sunday morning.

The win kept the Fijians hope of qualifying for a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal spot alive. Georgia had led 9-0 at halftime before Nayacalevu scored the try that led to their fightback to gain victory at the final whistle.

“This team behind the leadership with Wise (Nayacalevu) stuck at it, fought and it wasn’t tidy, but we managed to come away with the result, so all credit to the players,” he said.

Raiwalui commended Nayacalevu for standing up to his role as captain, which marks his growth as an individual.

“He’s (Nayacalevu) a strong family man with a great character and he backs it up on the field with his talent,” he said.

“He (Nayacalevu) leads us from the front right from the start, so I’m proud of him not only as a captain but to be part of our group.” Raiwalui said the Flying Fijians is a team that has taken each game that comes their way.

“We have this task. We must prepare for and respect it. So, I don’t think we were overconfident (against Georgia).

“I just think we didn’t execute in the first half as we had no momentum,” he said. Raiwalui said lack of possession was one of their downfalls against Georgia.

“We dropped too many balls and that was pressure from Georgia stripping us in the tackle,” he said.

“Losing the ball in contact and a number of lineouts we turned over, so we had to get back to the basics.

“We weren’t as clinical as we were against Australia, but we live to fight another day.” Raiwalui acknowledged the effort by the Georgian team as they were clinical in the first half.

“Georgia played very well as the forwards were very strong and the back three were very dangerous with the counterattacks,” he said.

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