Fijiana XV shifts focus to Japan test
"There's a lot of work to still be done, obviously, but I can say it's an exciting opportunity to do that."
Monday 17 August 2026 | 10:30
Fijiana XV winger Vani Buleki attempts to escape a tackle on her way to score a try during their Test match against South Africa at Churchill Park, Lautoka, on August 15, 2026.
Photo: Waisea Nasokia
Despite the Springbok Women claiming the Ubuntu-Bula Challenge trophy, Vodafone Fijiana XV head coach Willie Walker is adamant the team is on the right track.
The side narrowly lost 29-22 to the Springbok Women in the second Test at Churchill Park in Lautoka on Saturday, after leading 10-5 at halftime.
Walker said the team had continued what it started during the week.
"We went back to basics, we stripped it all back to the fundamentals of rugby, and we've just got to continue over the next two to three weeks to build on those aspects of the game," Walker said.
"I say it again, this is a longterm plan and we've got to make sure our conditioning is good, our skill development is good, and then our decision-making is good off the back of that.
"There's a lot of work to still be done, obviously, but I can say it's an exciting opportunity to do that."
Walker said the focus would now shift to Japan.
Fiji is scheduled to play a oneoff Test match against Japan on September 4 at the Japan Base in Fukuoka, Japan before they head to the WXV Global Series Challenger in Hong Kong from September 13-26.
"It will just be to tidy up small aspects of our game. Again, we're not trying to do things that are outside of our reach," he said.
"We want to stay within what we can do and what we're capable of, but we just have to be more accurate around some of the decisionmaking and then the skill-set stuff.
"So that'll be one of the key focuses over the next few weeks, is making sure that we stay accurate with what we're trying to do, but we're continuing to learn new things, and we're challenging ourselves at the same time."
Captain Kolora Lomani said the team had talked at halftime about the need for a hard and fast start to the second half.
"We did give that out in the first 20 minutes of the game. It was just going back into our discipline that kind of led us down through that second half," she said.
"But again, we had to just kind of hold on to that. Again, we just have to go back now and look at where we can focus on leading what's ahead of us."
Centre Ruth Raketekete stepped into the inside centre position in the absence of Josivini Naihamu and impressed with line breaks and strong tackles.
