Flying Fijians are back in training for the game against Australia on Monday. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Iliesa Tora
The Flying Fijians are now focused on their must-win game against the Australian Wallabies at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, in Saint-Étienne on Monday morning (NZ Time).
Head Coach Simon Raiwalui says they have gone past the disappointment of the controversial loss to Wales last Sunday in Bordeaux, and are now putting all their focus and energy into preparing for Australia.
Raiwalui gave his players a day off on Monday so they could rest and recover from the loss.
On Tuesday the team was back training in Lormont.
Asked what the atmosphere is like in the team camp at the team's media conference on Tuesday, Raiwalui said they were focused on the next job at hand and not worrying about the refereeing.
"Very good. Obviously disappointed yesterday we did not come away with the result," he said.
"Today was a real change. We move on to the next job, train well in very good spirits and the boys were laughing again.
"We control the controllables. [If] we start thinking and worrying about the things that are not in our hands [then] it's an opportunity lost for us to get better, so our boys got to really focus on what's the next job."
Raiwalui said, after their review of the Wales loss, he and his coaching team have identified key areas where they were lacking, which could have also given them a win.
"The boys are fit. It was unfortunate in the weekend," he said.
"There's a lot of talk around why, what. We didn't execute where we had a couple of opportunities where we dropped the ball over the line, a couple of disallowed tries for different reasons, so we have another opportunity to nail it in another game.
"We have a game plan and we need to improve in a lot of areas. We are playing a very young and dynamic Wallabies team who would have a lot of confidence after their last game and we are looking forward to the challenge."
Flying Fijians head coach Simon Raiwalui and Viliame Mata during the press conference at the Reinassance Hotel in Bordeaux. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Iliesa Tora
The Wallabies defeated Georgia 35-15 last weekend in their opening pool match.
Raiwalui said their mentor Eddie Jones is a great coach who would be working on a plan to nullify the Fiijians on Sunday night here in France.
"Eddie is obviously one of the best coaches in the world technically and am sure he will come up with a game plan to play against us.
"We are going to have to execute, we are gonna have to play our game plan," Raiwalui said of his former coach at Saracens in England.
"We turned over the ball 17 times [against Wales]. I think nine of them were in close contact areas. These are areas we need to get better at."
Jones is expected to name a few of the Fiji born and linked players in his side to meet their own countrymen.
This could include Langi Gleeson, Rob Valetini, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete, Mark Nawaqaniawase and Suliasi Vunivalu.
Getting it right
Flying Fijians number eight Viliame Mata, who stood his ground against 'Toby' Taulupe Faletau last weekend, said he is excited about the opportunity of playing against the Wallabies and his fellow countrymen.
Mata is currently ranked as the top runner at the Rugby World Cup, with 22 runs to his name against Wales.
"It's just a great challenge for us Fijians as well to go against our fellow Fijians from the other side but that does not take away our mindset. We are going for our first win this weekend," he said.
"We reviewed the game against Wales. We know that we didn't take advantage of the opportunities so we are going into this weekend and we are going to grab that and make use of them going forward."
Fiji must win against Australia and then also register wins against Georgia and Portugal to advance to the quarterfinals.
But they know they cannot look beyond Australia at the moment.
"We did some really good things at the weekend but there are things we needed to tidy up. We really looking forward to the game," Raiwalui said.
"We can't do anything about the last Sunday. We didn't come away with the win which was unfortunate.
"So we move on to the next challenge. The more time we waste on that will not help. We are fully preparing for the Wallabies."
Raiwalui said there were some niggling injuries that they have to deal with.
He will name is starting lineup on Friday but already there are signs that changes will be made, with some players who came off the bench expected to start against the Wallabies.
Players enjoying a game of soccer last Friday --- at the Stade Jules Ladoumègue in Lormont where the team trains. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Iliesa Tora
