NAKARAWA PUSHES RIGHT BUTTONS TO START THE ISLANDERS’ CELEBRATIONS
FIJIAN superstar Leone Nakarawa gave Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, who worked with him at Glasgow Warriors, a massive bear hug at the final whistle. It was heartfelt at the end of a game where he came back to haunt his old friends from his former club in the Scotland set-up. He was the standout player for Fiji, putting in a world-class performance in the deserved victory for the South Sea Islanders. The 29-year-old said he expected his former club-mates from Glasgow to try to ‘push his buttons’ because they knew he had a short fuse.
They did exactly that with Josh Strauss being yellow-carded for a late tackle on him that he reacted to very calmly.
He was also on the end of some fierce tackling but gave as good as he got. For good measure he also set up the two Fijian tries that laid the foundations for victory.
‘They tried to push my buttons sometimes, but I kept my cool and helped my team-mates create history with that win over Scotland,’ said the Fijian second row. ‘It is something special for the whole of Fiji and we will remember this for the rest of our lives.
‘There will be lots of screaming and shouting and celebration all over Fiji because of us winning.
‘We don’t have anything in Fiji, we don’t have any facilities, but we play with what’s inside our heart. Rugby is our passion, we just enjoy playing it and we showed that today.
‘Beating Scotland, with lots of my friends from Glasgow in the team, is a very special feeling. I felt sorry for them after the game, but not during it.’