Provoking the Flying Fijians players is a possibility in their final Rugby World Cup Pool C clash against Portugal at Stade de Toulouse, France, next Monday (7am Fiji time).

This came up during Portugal’s post conference interview, attended by head coach Patrice Lagisquet and captain Tomas Appleton, after their 14-34 loss to Australia.

The duo answered questions from the media since the quarterfinal fate of Fiji and Australia rests on them.

“We’ll do what we do best, annoy our opponents (Fiji) and we’ll try to play our best rugby and see what happens,” Lagisquet said in a light hearted manner.

He said they don’t want take any side but to go out there to play rugby.

The Waisea Nayacalevu- captained side is a step away from reaching the quarterfinals while Australia’s slim chance of qualifying rests on Portugal, if they are able to pull off an upset win and deny Fiji a bonus point.

“Fiji didn’t know how to manage their game against Georgia,” Lagisquet, a legendary French rugby winger said.

“On their (Flying Fijians) offensive part, they’ll want to improve and implement that slightly better against us. That is what I fear about.”

Lagisquet pointed out that he was expecting his Fijian counterpart, Simon Raiwalui, to make several changes in his line-up.

“I think there’ll be turnover of players and to save some for the quarters,” he said.

“Fiji is a well-structured team with many outstanding players and very physical too. Playing against Fiji in terms of physical dimension is always a challenge.”

Australia’s head coach, Eddie Jones, said they had achieved their objective.

“We only had one objective this week and that was to be alive and we are still alive,” Jones said.

“I am not interested in conjecture about Portugal and Fiji next week.

“I am pleased for the players. They’ve worked really hard, as they have all tournament, and they deserve some accolades for this performance today.

“We don’t have to worry about whether it’s a chance or not.

“We have a programme in place where we will have three days off regardless then we will have three days good training and we’ll look to get better.

“We want to finish next week better than we are now. That’s the aim.

“If we get an opportunity on the field, fantastic.”

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