Fiji Put On Flying Performance Against England, Not Enough For Final 4
By James Nokise
“I think it will be a very good game because both teams, they know, if something happens today then you’re going home tomorrow.”
These were the prophetic words of the living legend that is Waisale Serevi, on the streets of Marseilles before the epic quarterfinal between Fiji and England. Because of his status within the Fijian and wider Pacific community, it can be easy to forget how popular he is in the Northern hemisphere.
The man known as “The Wizard”, though, is busy before the match outside the stadium taking constant photo’s with European fans.
“I believe the boys are ready. They didn’t play well the last two games. It’s over, they’ve learned from that.”
In some ways he was right. Fiji fell behind in the first half with some sloppy play, and went to the break trailing 21-10.
However, they fought back hard to have things tied at 24-24 with 10mins left in the match. A drop goal and a penalty made it 30-24 to England, but Fiji had the momentum and the tenseness of the crowd made it clear everyone believed as long as the Flying Fijians had the ball in their hands, they also had their destiny. That ended with a (some say) controversial penalty, spoiling Fiji’s last chance for an incredible, historic win. As the referee finally blew the whistle five minutes into overtime, there were cries of celebration from the English fans, but tempered with relief that, for the second week in a row, England had narrowly escaped defeat to a Pacific Nation.
Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua, coach of Manu Samoa, had tweeted out “Tosa Viti Toso!!!” It was still an exciting match for the few Fijians who had made it down to the south of France, like Seru and Manu who are now based in London. They had a quick photo with Serevi, and a few English supporters, before heading in for the game.
A few of the UK based Fijians had made the journey, dressed in flags and flowers, full of optimism that this would finally be the year that Fiji broke through to the semi-finals.
“We all live around here” said Lesi, who was with Oli, Losalini and young Sam, before clarifying “I mean we’re from the UK”. But when you originally come from the Pacific, distance is relative. Anywhere less than a 3hour flight is pretty close.
“We only just made it” says Emma, and Englishwoman staunchly supporting Fiji with her husband Neori.
“Our flights were re-routed from Marseilles and we just got in this morning. We work at the UN so we’re actually based in Kosovo.” They’d met up with Ana and Bale who were also from the UK.
Having your team knocked out could leave fans feeling dejected, but instead many of the Fijian’s were full of pride.Their team lost, but they put their whole heart into the match.
“It was an excellent quarterfinal” said Robyn-Ann, who was with friends Gus and Charlene from Geneva. “Sometimes it all comes down to the bounce of a ball” agreed Gus. “I’m just glad we were here” agrees Charlene.
Fijians can still be proud of their team this World Cup. They made the quarter finals for the first time in 16 years, and remain the only pacific team to do so since this century. Samoa has not made the quarter finals since 1999. Tonga have never made the knockout stages Many considered the Flying Fijians second only to host nation France in popularity, with captain Waisea Nayacalevu and coach Simon Raiwalui both lauded for their leadership of the squad.
“Thank you to every supporter we have; here in France and worldwide. The 900,000 in Fiji that travel distances to find wifi, to find a connection to watch us, coz we really feel that support since we came in together 15 weeks ago… I hope we did them proud, and apologies we couldn’t get it across the line, but I’m super proud to be a Fijian tonight, and super proud of this team.”
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Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ on Air