THE FI is in the JI

And so it comes to this. Kiwi supporters trying to dissect the results of the past two weeks. In this we can tell a couple of things. Firstly, they didn’t expect Tonga to win. Secondly, they didn’t expect Fiji to win either.

But the Bula boys with the most flamboyant afro’s in the competition showed the Kiwi’s that the Fee was in the Gee (Fiji), and unlike David Kidwell’s post match interviews, there was a coherency around this Fiji performance that will have the small islands partying into the wee hours of the morning.

As games go, this one was much tighter than the Kiwi/Tonga bash fest. This was an 80 minute mystery. The type of game that has sports betting agencies on edge. But more importantly, it was a game that proves the island teams are on the rise, and that the Kiwi fan base is in shreds.

Last week the Tongan fans packed the Hamilton stadium, outnumbering the kiwi supporters at least 20:1. This week it looked like I could count the Kiwi supporters on both my feet.  Kiwi captain Adam Blair and his star play maker Shaun Johnson made some interesting comments post match as to why the fans didn’t show up for them. It has some thing to do with a fake moon landing and Elvis still being alive.

The reality of their demise is the Kiwi’s never deserved or looked like winning this contest. The Fijians held most of the ball for the opening 40 minutes and showed more endeavour with their ball play than the favoured Kiwis. Fiji employed a very simple game plan that the Kiwis failed to recognise or contain. The Fiji forwards laid the ground work up the middle of the field, taking on the big Kiwi pack and it was here, amongst the big timber and a couple of afro’s where the Kiwi’s lost the game.

Twice the Fijians were denied tries, and were very unlucky to go into the break with the scores drawn 2 all. The Kiwis needed to come out breathing fire and some how wrestle back the confidence and momentum of the tier two islanders. And for the early exchanges in the second half it looked like the Kiwis had found their groove again. But any sense of a kiwi win became redundant, when they again found no way to cross the Fiji line. They lacked leadership in the tight exchanges and they will be rueing not having a general to push them into the right places of the park when needed.

The Fijians on the other hand defended and attacked like pride of Lions. The could sense a famous victory at hand. They kept to the simple game plan and simplified even more in the dying moments of the game. When the final whistle blew, the full weight of what they had achieved was etched into their faces. It’s quite an experience to see grown men cry, but they did openly and unashamedly…….it didn’t matter which team you supported, you knew these men from Fiji were the real deal and they deserved this win more than the other team, and I like many at the pub I watched it at found ourselves nodding our heads and clapping hands uncontrollably. Well done Fiji.

There will be two island teams in the semi finals of the RLWC 2017. Can one or both make it to a final? We can only hope…….which is still better than the “ki is the wi”