The Flying Fijians will have to topple Japan on Friday for the second spot in the Pacific Nations Cup or else end up two places further down.
While the Junior All Blacks is already assured the title, second place could either go to Fiji or Samoa, both teams with two wins each.
“A second spot finish would be the best we ever have in any of the Flying Fijians’ PNC outing,” Fiji coach Ilivasi Tabua said.
If Japan wins, Fiji is demoted to fourth spot from their current second spot behind the JABs , Japan will then take third place and Samoa will move up to second.
“This game is desperate for both Fiji and Japan,” said Tabua.
The Flying Fijians will be without three players against Japan – Seru Rabeni, Ilikimi Bolakoro and Leone Nakarawa.
“It is unfortunate that we have injuries especially to those three players but that’s not the end of us really, we have players in the squad who can take up their positions,” said Tabua.
Tabua added that the Japanese team will be tough, particularly in the forward pack.
“They’re very technical and tend to play a forward game than us. Japan have really huge players upfront, they keep the ball tight but feed on our mistakes a lot faster for us to recover from so we’re hoping for the best against them,” Tabua said.
“We have a game plan in mind that we believe can shut them out and give us a chance to play the ball out wide.”
Meanwhile Tabua has said he will not stop his players if they wished to opt out of the traditional ‘cibi’ war dance before a game.
He made this comments following utility back Seremaia Bai’s decision to exclude himself from the ‘cibi’ before the start of Fiji’s game against Samoa last Saturday.
“It is each player’s decision whether or not they want to participate in the cibi or not,” Tabua said.
“Bai came to us and gave us his reasons as to why he did not want to participate in the ‘cibi’ – he said it was due to his spiritual beliefs and we respect him for that.”
The Fiji versus Japan match kicks off at 3:10pm at the TFL Stadium on Friday afternoon.
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