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Last year in September I wrote about how Fiji rugby was going backwards and now I write to tell you all that Fiji rugby is no more.
It passed away in November 2012 after going into a coma that lasted four weeks.
It showed a bit of promise in the last week of November, beating Georgia, but it wasn’t enough. The Fiji rugby union was contacted and was told to pull the plug for the life support machine.
It’s a sad ending to a country which had everything to gain and nothing to lose. The cause of death at this point is unknown but fans suspect it has something to do with the Fiji Rugby union and the coach.
This is the story of Fiji rugby in 2012 and what exactly happened leading up to its slow and painful death in late November.
In December 2011, Sam Domoni, the man who was selected to lead Fiji to 2011 World Cup glory was fired.
The man who single-handedly brought Fiji from the skies it floated in 2007 straight to the depths of hell in 2011.
The man whose selection raised not only eyebrows but the whole forehead was fired after taking Fiji to what was regarded as the worst performance ever by a highly rated tier two team.
In January 2012 the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) selected their new coach Inoke Male, even though there were many other better candidates.
The likes of now current Samoa forwards coach and former Fiji captain and hooker, Greg Smith, former Fiji captain and lock and current Racing Metro Manager, Simon Raiwalui and the most successful local coach in Fiji rugby history, Iliesa Tanivula, all applied.
Over 30 people from all parts of the world applied and yet FRU selected in-house.
Male promised to fix Fiji’s world ranking which went from ninth to 16th during the reign of Sam Domoni. The FRU than imposed a new rule whereby the national team will consist 70 percent of local players only.
This wasn’t looked kindly upon by overseas based players who wanted to don the national jumper in the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup.
Fiji played its first Test against Japan and barely scraped through giving Male his first win as head coach and then five days later, they took on the ever-improving Samoa who came out firing with a team of completely overseas-based players.
The local players from Fiji had no answer for these players and Samoa scraped in with a win due to the precision goalkicking by their flyhalf, Ki Anufe.
Fiji then returned home to take on Scotland in what was the biggest match for the national team but poor defensive errors and mistakes by mainly the local players cost Fiji the game and once again Fiji were beaten at home by a tier 1 team.
The fans were not at all pleased with the team’s performance in a game Fiji could have won had it fielded a more experienced team.
A week later Fiji took on Tonga and beat them convincingly, a victory that did put smiles back on the faces of the fans but not the critics who felt that this ‘local player preferential rule was denying the Fiji team the chance to be more competitive against teams ranked ahead of them.
The European tour in November was something fans and critics alike were waiting for and as predicted, the team selected for the tour consisted mainly of local based players taking places which should have gone to more experienced overseas based players.
18 of the 30 players selected were local based. Some of the major players that were not picked were Napolioni Nalaga, Timoci Nagusa, Sireli Bobo, Akapusi Qera, Jone Qovu, Seru Rabeni, Sisa Koyamaibole, Waisea Luveniyali, Campese Ma’afu, Graham Dewes and Gabriele Lovobalavu
Fiji’s first Test was against England, a game that was supposed to be played in 2009 but England’s Rugby Football Union decided to reschedule the Fiji game to after the 2011 Rugby World Cup and as compensation, gave Fiji rugby union a whooping £700,000 and instead scheduled Australia.
To this day, no one knows what happened to that money which comes to around FJD$2m. Akapusi Qera was called up after one of Fiji flankers was injured during training.
England, fielding their second string side, taught Fiji a lesson in rugby by thrashing them 54-12. A game where Fiji stood strong in the first 20 minutes then were completely blown apart for the remaining 60.
Fiji then played a mid-week game against Gloucester where Male decided to give more local players a chance to play against a top English club. Fiji led (18-10) on the first half but an assault by Gloucester in the last 30 minutes secured them a win.
Fiji’s next game was against an Ireland XV team where Fiji were going to play for for one of their fallen stars, former Toulouse centre, Maleli Kunavore who died earlier in the week.
His death wasn’t enough to ignite the Fijian players, whose lack of fitness and below-par performance gave Ireland a major win thrashing Fiji 53-0.
The nail in the coffin as Fiji had lost to two of the bigger tier one teams in quick succession.
Fiji’s last game was against a lower-ranked tier two team. A game Fiji had to win to bring pride back to a nation which in previous years played with pride but now lack pride and commitment to the national jersey.
Fiji were down by a point (18-19) in the first half against Georgia, a team they have played against for the very first time in their 74-year history.
Fiji eventually won the game through good goal-kicking by local based flyhalf, Jonetani Ralulu who was the only locally based player who performed well for Fiji in the Europe tours. He also won the man of the match award for the game.
Inoke Male’s record as a coach this year was three wins out of seven tests which is 42 percent. His predecessor Sam Domoni’s winning ratio was 31 percent (six wins in 19 Tests).
Fiji Rugby was definitely going backwards when Sam Domoni was coach but instead of going forward, the team is still going backwards at a slightly slower speed.
Fiji have not only lost their spirit, their confidence and their pride but have also lost their multitudes of fans who all wonder what happened.
Fiji’s biggest rival Samoa has become stronger with each Test and are now ranked seventh in the world, the best ranking for any island based team since the ranking system began in 2003.
Fiji has moved three spots up this year to 13th, but they are still a team that does not look like it will ever move forward.
There is a famous saying by Karl Marx, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
What happened at the 2011 Rugby World Cup may have been a a tragedy but if its repeated again in 2015 and if it continues the way its going, as it seems likely, where would it leave Fiji Rugby?
Where to from now? Why isn’t the FRU taking the blame for our teams failure instead of blaming the overseas based players?
Now even the Fijian Sevens team is headed in the same direction and yet the FRU refused to take the blame as they are the ones who selected these inept coaches in both codes and yet its the fans who pay the price for the failure of FRU.
Maybe that was the nail in the coffin for the Fijian rugby team. As of now, no one knows what happened or they refuse to see what’s happening right in front of them, investigations are continuing.
The death of a much beloved rugby team would come as a surprise to many who love the sport but its memory will live on in time as we looks back at our success in years gone by.
R.I.P Fiji Rugby (1938-2012).
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.