Tikoisuva: Never any question of Fiji not competing at the RWC 21 June, 2011 Newly appointed Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) acting chief executive officer Pio Tikoisuva has revealed recent media speculation about replacing the Flying Fijians at the Rugby World Cup is redundant as there can be no question of Fiji not participating at World Rugby’s pinnacle event. 

“The Fiji Rugby Union is participating at the Rugby World Cup – it’s as simple as that, as far as the FRU is concerned there has never been any question of Fiji pulling out of the event, it is merely media conjecture and speculation,” Tikoisuva said, adding “so this issue of replacing us should we pull out is meaningless as that simply isn’t going to happen.” 

“The Flying Fijians will be at the World Cup and will be there to compete and we will be competitive regardless of the quality of the opposition,” Tikoisuva said emphatically. 

A statement from William Glenwright, the IRB’s General Manager - Oceania, reflects Tikoisuva’s comments. In the statement Glenwright revealed the IRB has indeed not released any statement in relation to a replacement for Fiji and there were indeed no such plans. 

“Fiji will be participating at the Rugby World Cup and any media reports to the contrary are false and are certainly not based on any discussions with anyone from the IRB,” Glenwright said. 

Fiji opens its RWC campaign against Namibia on 10 September.