Fiji aim to give it their best shot

An upset of epic proportions has been brewing at this cup, but Fijian midfielder Seremaia Bai wouldn't be drawn on whether his side could pull it off against South Africa tonight.

The tier-two nations have performed with vigour and passion throughout the opening week of the tournament, with Romania, Italy, Japan and Georgia all showing flashes of what could happen if they had a couple of extra star players in their ranks.

Fiji have a tough Pool D ask ahead of them in the form of the defending champions, but Bai said they wanted to make the most of the occasion.

"We won't promise anything," Bai said.

"We just, as I said before, we just want to play to the best of our ability. We are very fortunate that, you know, it's very rare for us from Fiji to get this kind of test matches. But we'll give it our best shot."

South Africa opened their World Cup defence with a hard-fought 17-16 win over Wales in Wellington last Sunday, while Fiji breezed past Namibia 49-25 during the opening weekend.

Fiji know they need to produce a couple of big wins if they want to advance to the quarter-finals, with Wales and Samoa still to play in the group.

The Springboks kick the ball regularly through first-five Morne Steyn and rely on their quick chase to create pressure on their opponents, but Fijian assistant coach Greg Mumm said the South Africans might think twice about putting boot to ball too often though, considering the Pacific Island side boast some dangerous runners in open play.

"I think looking at their game over the year, kicking's obviously been a strong part. Most countries are a little bit weary about giving our boys - in the back three particularly - some ball," he said.

"But I think we are expecting that, probably early on particularly, that they'll still try to play a field-position game. Obviously with Morne and Frans [Steyn] they've got some excellent goalkickers from anywhere in the half."

Fiji will have to ensure they don't get on the wrong side of the referee and allow Morne Steyn the chance to kick plenty of penalty goals and Mumm said it was something they had focused on at training during the week.