‘Need to be on our game’

Fiji will need to bring their A-game at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia as they anticipate the new 24-team format. 

Flying Fijians head coach Mick Byrne says while it is exciting to have a mix of other teams, he understands it won’t be a walk in the park. 

Fiji is drawn in Pool C with Argentina, Spain and Canada. 

Argentina and Fiji met in their first-ever Rugby World Cup match in 1987, the Pacific Islanders winning 28-9 in Hamilton. They have not been drawn in a pool together since. 

Fiji and Canada last met at a Rugby World Cup in 2007, Fiji won, 29-16. 

He said Spain and Canada has been their regular opponents the past few years, however they keep monitoring them. 

“Argentina play a great brand of rugby and the Fiji-Argentina game will be one of the highlights of the World Cup,” Byrne said. 

“We’ll keep an eye on them (Canada and Spain) and we’ve got a good benchmark to see where they’re at and what improvements they’ve made. 

“Spain and Argentina play a similar style of footy, they like to run, they like to throw the ball around, they like to keep the ball alive. Defensively we need to be on our game when we play those teams. 

“Canada, we’ve played a lot recently and they’re getting a really good structure around the way they’re playing. They’ve become very aggressive in their ball carries and their line speed’s improved a lot in defence.” 

Our backyard 

Byrne added said the2027 RWC will be a long tournament where teams would play teams that they may not get a chance to play very much. 

“Being in our backyard, there’ll be a good following, we’ll have a lot of fans. We’re really looking forward to that, that’s an exciting part of having a World Cup in Australia is we know our Fijian families and communities in Australia are very strong. 

“We wait now to see where our games are and where that’s going to happen, I think that’s going to be early in the New Year when we find that out (February 3). Then we can work on where we’re going to be based, and then we can connect with our communities when we get over there.” 

When questioned about his thoughts on the round of 16 format, Byrne said: “It’s a great opportunity. The round of 16 means that a lot of other teams that normally wouldn’t progress out of their pools will progress into that round of 16 and give them a taste of the next level of World Cup football.” 

Good mix 

“Fiji have played Australia and Wales over the last couple of World Cups so it’s good to have a mix of other teams, I think that makes it exciting for us. 

“The beauty is we’re playing Argentina. Of all the teams there in the top six, there’s Ireland, France and England, we played Ireland last year, and France and England this year, and we’ll play the three of those teams next year. 

“Then there’s the All Blacks, South Africa and Argentina and we’ve got one of those teams in our pool so that’s the exciting part, to be able to play another Southern Hemisphere team… we haven’t played (Argentina) since 2003 and it’s an exciting build-up for us.”