The Fiji Rugby Union has announced the appointment of Ilivasi Tabua as the new coach of the FMF Flying Fijians through to the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France.

Tabua’s first task will be to guide Fiji through the Pacific Nations Cup.

“I think Fiji are in a strong position," Tabua said. "The important thing is that everything is in place on the ground particularly in terms of the High Performance Unit and the way we are now looking after our players.”

Having been to two World Cups with Australia (1995) and Fiji (1999), Tabua believes Fiji needs to get back to playing a free-flowing game.

“Rugby’s a running game, and that’s what we’re good at, so obviously I’m going to be working on improving this aspect particularly,” the former Wallaby said.

FRU HPU general manager Peter Murphy believes this is an important move for Fiji Rugby.

“Tabua’s got a good work ethic and the fact that he’s played at such a high level and has attained his IRB Level 3 and Level 4 accreditation makes him the perfect choice,” Murphy said.

Tabua, nicknamed the "Human Skewer" played 17 Tests for Fiji between 1990 and 1999, and represented Australia in 10 Tests between 1993 and 1995. He also played for Australia in the 1993 Rugby World Cup 7s.

In 2006, he coached the Knights to the semi-finals of the Colonial Cup, and led the Fiji Barbarians to third-place in the Pacific Rugby Cup.