French Put Flying Fijians Under Pressure
"The French way of playing is to spread the ball wide, to force turnovers, and to have a very good defense," he told French Rugby media.
Monday 21 August 2023 | 16:23
Jiuta Wainiqolo (from left), Caleb Muntz, Sireli Maqala and Frank Lomani celebrate Semi Radradra’s try against France. Fiji lost 17-34. Photo: AFP
While the FIJI Water Flying Fijians did things well, the obvious is they need to build up on their consistency after losing their warm-up match against France 17-34 yesterday at Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, in France.
Head coach Simon Raiwalui, while making the comment, admitted that his side was put under pressure by the world tier one side that stuck to their game.
"France is always a tough team and they put us under pressure in the areas like the breakdowns and turnovers," Raiwalui said.
He added that some of their setpieces and scrums were in their favour.
France halfback Maxime Lucu said their style of play earned them the 17-point difference win.
"The French way of playing is to spread the ball wide, to force turnovers, and to have a very good defense," he told French Rugby media.
"We built our match on that. We didn't change our habits. We scored by tiring that Fiji team."
France skipper Gregory Alldritt French Rugby media that being backed by a vocal crowd was an advantage for the side.
"I think we were able to follow the strategy we had been working on all week for 80 minutes. And we were also able to manage our times a little bit lower when we collected points or to start again and recover straight away, it's very satisfying," he said.
"And me, personally, I would really like to congratulate the finishers because when we are on the field and those who come in they bring this impact it brings a lot of energy to those who are tired and it totally revives the match.
"The Cauldron had made noise and the stadium was incredible. So for us it's just great to move around, play, in the provinces like that, get closer to our supporters. And we hope in any case that it will be a huge asset for us, to have all this fervor behind us during the competition," Alldritt added.
The game was the last opportunity for some French players to impress coach Fabien Galthie before he trims his World Cup squad from 42 players to a final 33 today.
France plays another warm-up against Australia this weekend before opening the World Cup against three-time champion New Zealand in Paris on September. 8.
Fiji faces England at 2:15am next Sunday before starting its RWC campaign against Wales in Bordeaux on September 11 at 7am (Fiji time).
Story by: sereana.salalo@fijisun.com.fj
