Team Fiji -Practice makes perfect.

They say practice makes perfect, but today the Fiji national team played against a local team Army and were far from perfect.

With 10 or so of the Flying Fijian squad that will embark on the European tour in a couple of weeks, the Fiji team had a hit out today with a practice match. Up against them is one of the nations strongest local teams, Army. Their name sums them up as most of them are in the forces, they are also super fit and have been playing very well this year, today was no exception.

In hot conditions in Suva’s national stadium, the Fiji Rugby Union put their men and a heap of fringe lads in for this match. They flung the gates open and offered a free of charge seat for the punters, and several hundred sprawled around the field for the view of the frantic action.

The initial 20 mins was played in true Barbarian style, no shots at goal were taken and very little kicking was done as both teams ran at all costs. This was high in entertainment, but low in clinical good rugby. For the Fiji team the clock was ticking over, but their manner remained sloppy. Army were into the rucks and mauls and chucked more men into everything to secure ball, their determination and strength was rewarded a lot with valuable turnovers.

Fiji finally opted for the boot and slotted a penalty to go ahead after 15 mins, this did little to damper Army spirits as they continued to steal lineout ball and gain yards through the inside backs. Things must have been building in Fiji and they repelled in style, powerhouse number 6 Samu Bola muscled over for the first try and firmly set the intention of team Fiji. All of a sudden it was the national side that started to look the business, they had spark and set off in attack mode from deep inside their half. This looked promising, but a lofted pass was picked off easily by an Army back and he galloped away to score under the sticks.

Momentum was like a seesaw and Fiji again got a serious case of the fumbles, loose taps from the tall timber had the first five in serious heat, big men barreled in at him and usually it meant trouble. Remarkably Fiji did scramble a lot and used plenty of get out of jail cards in the process, however they would be better to control their ball and get on the front foot.

Things started to look a little tense when super sub James Brown entered the game, he lived up to the legend name with a dazzling 10mins where he scored 2 great tries. His first was after 1 min on the pitch and he weaved his way through the big forwards and got Fiji back on track. Seemingly moments later he charged down a clearance kick and calmly regathered for his second 5 points. All eyes were on him and his extra urgency was hovering above the reast.

Fiji coaches and the bench shared a few smiles, and they looked certain to pull away in comfort. Army though had other plans, their grit was again rewarded with a grunty try through the forwards. Their fitness did not slacken off and they pushed the Fiji team all the way in this match.

In the end Fiji snuck home 26-21, in this victory a few men said “I am class”, the rest were in a real battle today. They will be better for the torrid run and I guess after loads of fitness and training at times it is hard to aim all the enthusiasm correctly. People on the sideline were saying “You can’t read too much into theses matches”, maybe they are right, or maybe the depth in Fiji rugby is very strong and today was evidence of that.