Team profile: Fiji

Deacon Manu, centre, captains the Fiji team. Photo / Getty Images

With pace and strength in abundance, Fiji could well prove a surprise package at this World Cup.

Team bio:
World Cup Appearances: 5
Last World Cup result: Quarter-finals
Best-ever RWC: Quarter-finals, 1987, 2007
IRB Ranking: 15
Head Coach: Illivasi Tabua
Key player: Seremaia Bai. Experienced and a distinctly handy footballer.

Overview:
Politics has decreed that Fiji won't be at their best this time around. Many of their leading players are in the army, and therefore unwelcome here, with entry visa denied to members of the military.

Former Chiefs prop Deacon Manu is captain of a squad including 21 overseas-based players.

They have a United Nations look to them, with players drawn from Australia, Japan, France, England, Scotland and New Zealand.

The Pacific Islanders will be aiming to repeat their heroics of 2007 to reach another quarter-final.

That time, having beaten Japan 35-31 and toppling Wales 38-34 in a thriller in Nantes, they gave the South Africans a real fright in Marseilles.

A major upset was on the cards when Fiji caught up from 6-20 to 20-20 well into the second half and Fiji camped on South Africa's line for a time, before the eventual winners got away and won it 37-20.

That Fijian side was full of big, fast, athletic men, as is this one, if lacking some of the quality.

An early indicator of how this group might fare came when they were beaten 60-14 by the All Blacks in Dunedin last month.

The numbers look grim, but they showed enough promise on that bitter night in terms of ball retention and skills in the second half that, with time together, they should give their rivals some cheek.

That needs to be balanced, though, with a surprise loss to Japan in the Pacific Nations Cup final last month.

Fixtures:
Pool D
Saturday September 10 v Namibia, Rotorua International Stadium (Rotorua)
Saturday September 17 v South Africa, Wellington Regional Stadium (Wellington)
Sunday September 25 v Samoa, Eden Park (Auckland)
Sunday October 2 v Wales, Waikato Stadium (Hamilton)

- HERALD ONLINE