New Professional Core Means Islanders Offer More Than Just Flair

Summary

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IN the 2003 World Cup Fiji came within a couple of minutes of beating Scotland. In 2007 they beat Wales and came very close to defeating the eventual champions, South Africa. They now stand above Scotland in the world rankings, as do our other two opponents, Australia and Argentina, in this month's internationals.

I make these points not to dent the optimism which Andy Robinson has engendered, but rather to emphasise that Scotland face a very stiff series of tasks over the next three Saturdays. Admittedly we have home advantage, and that counts for a good deal - in the Six Nations after all something like two-thirds of games are won by the home side. But, at best, home advantage only shades the odds.

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Extract

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New Professional Core Means Islanders Offer More Than Just Flair

Everyone knows that the Fijians are capable of scoring extravagantly brilliant tries from any position on the field. So teams know what they must do to deny them opportunities: dominate up- front, win ...

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