Fiji far from easy
OPINION: At last count, fewer than 10,000 tickets had sold for Saturday’s ‘‘big’’ match at Westpac Stadium.
There’s a fair chance you didn’t know there was any game on there this weekend, let alone a World Cup quarterfinal.
Who could blame you. After all, New Zealand against Fiji is hardly one of international league’s more fabled rivalries. The two teams have never met before, which says a bit about the code, this event and Fiji’s former place in it.
If the 2017 Rugby League World Cup has registered with anyone, it’s because of Tonga and their fans. They’ve been magnificent and, in the process of doing remarkable things such as beating the Kiwis 28-22, obscured what Fiji have been up to.
There are some funny teams, populated by players with tenuous links, at this tournament. Some of the football’s been of a comical standard too.
Fiji, though, are an impressive team playing impressive football and Kiwi fans needn’t assume that Saturday’s clash will be a walkover. In terms of depth and pedigree, they’re far stronger than Fiji, but you would’ve said the same before they played Tonga too.
So far Fiji have beaten the United States 58-12, Wales 72-6 and Italy 38-10. Hardly powerhouses of the world game, but emphatic outcomes all the same.
Melbourne Storm wing, by way of St Kentigern College, Suliasi Vunivalu has taken his superb club form into this tournament, scoring tries and starting sets of six off in emphatic fashion with his pace, size and evasive skills. One day Russell Packer’s jail term will cease to be the first thing we mention.
Nor will the fact he appears to have turned his life around, after serving 12-months of a two-year sentence for causing actual bodily harm, be noteworthy either. They’ll just be aspects of the New Zealand Warriors, St George Illawarra Dragons, New Zealand and, from next year, Wests Tigers’ prop’s life that go without saying.
For now, though, it’s hard not to preface any story about how good it is to be playing for the Kiwis, without dwelling on what the 28-year-old might have been up to instead.
‘‘Still cherishing every day that I have in camp. You don’t realise it until you go through other things,’’ was the veiled way Packer referenced his past this week.
Not that everyone will care. Some
He’s almost matched by Manly’s Akuila Uate, at centre. Then there’s captain, and fullback, Kevin Naiqama, former Junior Kiwi Taane Milne and Canterbury-Banktown’s Marcelo Montoya. All help make Fiji’s backline one of the more explosive around.
In the pack, former Brisbane and North Queensland prop Ashton Sims is another to look out for, along with the Sydney Roosters’ Eloni Vunakece, Penrith’s Viliame Kikau and Jacon Saifiti from the Newcastle Knights. Some blokes might be flat out just playing footy, but Vunakece has three kids, is on the folk will feel that after repeatedly punching someone and stomping on their head, that you have no place in international sport. Others will be heartened by the fact Packer is now a teetotaller and university graduate, who appears poised to make quite a telling contribution to the culture of rugby league.
And, yes, there will be those whose only interest is in what the prop does on the paddock.
It’s so far, so good on that front. Playing off the bench, Packer has made a decent impact during this World Cup, as have the rest of New Zealand’s interchange players.
In fact, if they’ve had a real strength it’s been the bench. In Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Packer and Isaac Liu, New Zealand have generated excellent go-forward, leading you to wonder if any of the trio might be a better starting option than Jared Warea-Hargreaves.
Instead it’s hooker Danny Levi Rugby League Players’ Association board and also works as a rubbish collector and personal trainer. And finally we have the two players who really could cause New Zealand headaches on Saturday: Apisai Koroisau and Jarryd Hayne.
About the most flattering thing you could say about Koroisau is that he was a contender to play hooker for New South Wales this year. Nathan Peats eventually got the job, but Koroisau is a genuine up-and-comer.
Hayne’s name precedes him. In fact there’s few players whose appeal and brand spread beyond rugby league quite like his. that’s gone from the interchange and into the run-on side, replacing veteran Thomas Leuluai. Kodi Nikorima, who played five-eighth against Samoa and Tonga, now assumes Nikorima’s old role on the bench.
Nikorima has speed and utility value, but’s unlikely to match the quality of Levi’s service from dummy-half.
Not that Packer’s too worried. Despite last Saturday’s 28-22 loss to Tonga, his faith in New Zealand’s title credentials remains intact.
‘‘I’m very lucky and privileged to be a part of this [World Cup] and still supremely confident we have a team capable of winning it,’’ he said. Whether that means he’ll try hard or play well against the Kiwis is a different matter. The fact is he could and history has shown that a good day for Hayne means a good day for the team.
At first glance, a rugby league game between New Zealand against Fiji might not provide the most compelling case to pack Westpac Stadium. Look a bit deeper and we might not only get a real contest on Saturday, but maybe an upset too.