Flying Fijians in 'tough' 2011 RWC pool draw 04 December, 2008

Fiji's High Commissioner to the United Kingdowm and former FRU CEO and Flying Fijians manager, Pio Bosco Tikoisuva during the pool draws in London. Photo: MICHAEL PALER The Fiji Rugby Union has welcomed the Flying Fijians tough draw for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and believes it wi...

Springboks survive Fijian blitz 07 October, 2007

South Africa head coach Jake White hailed his captain John Smit after they survived a major scare against Fiji to book a place in the semi-finals. The Springboks looked to have the match sewn up with the score at 20-6 when Fiji centre Seru Rabeni was sin-binned. However, in the space of two minutes Fiji scored twice to lev...

Fiji hang on to defeat Wales 29 September, 2007

Fiji withstood a ferocious second-half comeback to edge Wales 38-34 in a thrilling Pool B decider and reach the quarter-finals at Stade de la Beaujoire on Saturday. They now face South Africa next Sunday in Marseille while Wales are eliminated following the pool phase for the third time. Fiji have reached the quarter-final...

Wallabies through to quarter-finals 23 September, 2007

Australia booked a place in the quarter-finals with a 55-12 win over an under-strength Fiji in their Pool B match at Stade de la Mosson on Sunday. The seven-tries-to-two victory garnered the Wallabies a bonus point and a safe passage to the knockout stage of the tournament. Centre Matt Giteau scored two tries in his 50th inte...

Fiji defeat Canada 16 September, 2007

Fiji have held off a determined Canada to win their Pool B match 29-16 at Millennium Stadium. But the scoreline did not reflect the closeness of the tussle, especially in the second half. Indeed, the margin blew out only at the death when Canada, pressing for a try of their own that would have brought them to within a poin...

Pool B nail-biter takes a toll on both teams 12 September, 2007

Fiji's 35-31 win against Japan in Pool B on Wednesday was one of the most bruising encounters of the IRB Rugby World Cup. Japan coach John Kirwan (NZL) was forced to move his fly half Bryce Robins to scrum half following injuries to both recognised number 9s, Tomoki Yoshida and replacement Yuki Yatomi. "It's a situati...

Fiji fall to Auch in warm-up match 23 August, 2007

FMF Flying Fijians went down 29-20 to French Division Two champions Auch in their first warm-up game in St Affrique on Wednesday evening. “It was tough and niggly out there,” coach Ilivasi Tabua said. “I think the boys let themselves get distracted, and gave away too many penalties. The high penalty coun...

FRU very grateful for Gov't assistance 26 July, 2007

The chief executive of the Fiji Rugby Union, Timoci Tavanavanua, has expressed his extreme gratitude to the Fiji Government for the additional funds that have been made available to help the FMF Flying Fijians’ campaign at the Rugby World Cup. “I think I speak for the whole rugby fraternity in Fiji, not just the F...

FRU officials get clean billing 18 July, 2007

In an effort to be completely transparent and to quell the quite spurious rumours being thrown around in the media, the Board of the Fiji Rugby Union decided last week that all team officials would need to pass a doping test before being recommended as part of the World Cup team. On 12 July, 14 officials undertook a urine test ...

FMF to reward players with bonuses 07 March, 2007

FRU major sponsor, Flour Mills of Fiji, announced Wednesday a performance bonus plan worth potentially up to $500,000 for the players representing Fiji at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. “FMF already spends close to $650,000 a year on sponsoring the Flying Fijians,” FMF chairman Hari Punja said. “To help...