Fijians look for quick recovery for semi-final playoff

Break out the kava, the Fijian boys need a quick pick me up. With just four days off until their crucial playoff with Ireland on Monday for a spot in the World Cup semi-finals, the Fijian team are bracing for the arduous task of playing their third game in just nine days.

The Bati showed the effects of a quick turnaround in their 18-16 late defeat to Scotland at Gosford last night and as they travel to the Gold Coast today emphasis will be on recovery.

But with only nine players out of the 24-man squad linked to either NRL or Super League clubs, the Fijian staff are having difficulty convincing the local players to stick to the professional recovery techniques and not just sit around drinking bowls of kava.

“I think a couple of boys are pretty happy just to go back to the room and drink some kava but there’s a little bit more to it these days with the professionalism,” said Ashton Sims, one of the few players to take advantage of the free after-game massages offered by Wollongong trainees to the Fijians throughout the tournament.

“I think (kava) is a good way to put you to sleep.”

Fullback Jarryd Hayne is hopeful the kava is brought out in the next few days, but more important for him is for the Fijians to reduce their training workload as they enter the do-or-die stage of the tournament.

The Parramatta star says the Fijians have had just one day off in two weeks and it showed in their late loss to the Scots.

“It’s been a tough couple of days, the coach has really pushed the limits with training and we had one day off in about 13 days with a game in between,” said Hayne.

“I think we’re up to about our 11th training session in eight days too so it’s quite a bit.

“We looked a bit tired (against Scotland) with the way we’ve been training and we have probably been training too much.

“Hopefully now we get a couple of days rest.”

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