Irish win has inspired us, Tikoirotuma warns Eddie
ASELI Tikoirotuma reckons Fiji can follow Ireland’s lead by “shocking the world” when they take on England at Twickenham this Saturday.
The flying Fijians have never come close to beating England, their best effort being a 25-12 loss in Suva in 1988. Last year’s 35-11 World Cup defeat extended their losing streak to six but London Irish star Tikoirotuma remains optimistic.
He told The Rugby Paper: “England have been playing so well and to beat Australia three times in a row showed their class. But everybody said New Zealand were unbeatable before last Saturday and Ireland showed what could happen.
“England are getting better every time, especially with Eddie Jones in charge, but this is another chance for us to showcase our talent. We played pretty well against England last year and we know we can compete hard against them.
“You never know, we might just shock the world like Ireland did.”
Inspired by the exploits of their Olympics-winning 7s team, Tikoirotuma insists Fiji will not die wondering. He said: “People like watching Fiji because we like to play running rugby. Results don’t matter as long as we’re doing our thing.
“There’s always motivation from watching our 7s team and we always want to play like them. We like to play a loose game and England won’t want that so they’ll try to keep it tight, but if we get enough ball we’ll make our people happy.”
Despite playing his rugby in the Championship, Tikoirotuma’s selection comes on the back of a string of impressive performances for London Irish.
After a frustrating year at Harlequins following his move from Waikato Chiefs in 2014, he has rediscovered his best form with the Exiles.
Relegation was a blow, but Tikoirotuma explains: “I’ve never felt as good as I do now since I left the Chiefs. I was always grumpy when I played for Harlequins, where things just didn’t work out, but I’m much happier at Irish now.
“In many ways it’s been good to go back down to the Championship to find our feet and, hopefully, get back up. It’s good for all the younger lads because if we were still in the Premiership they wouldn’t get any game time.
“They’re getting chances now and I’m enjoying being a role model to guys like Joe Cokanasiga and Senitiki Nayolo. It’s great having three of us Fijians at the club and I need to be spot on to show them the right example to follow.”
But Tikoirotuma also has that big date at Twickenham on his mind now. He added: “I’m really looking forward to getting an opportunity to play for my country again and I’m glad our coach, John McKee, has kept me in despite Irish going down.
“I feel I’m playing some of my best rugby but know I’ll need to step it up another level, but playing against England at Twickenham is all the motivation you need. It won’t be easy but we’ll give it a shot and try to entertain people.”