Quartet out of Georgia game

Flying Fijians head coach Inoke Male will only be considering 26 players for their final match of the Northern Hemisphere tour against Georgia at 12am Sunday (Fiji Time).

This follows the exit of tour skipper Deacon Manu, Josh Matavesi and Timoci Matanavou while Simeli Koniferedi has been ruled out due to injury.

Speaking to FijiLive today, team manager Aseri Rokoura said Manu had to cut short his tour for personal reasons, Matavesi returned to his English club, Worcester Warriors, due to injury while Matanavou returned to his French Top 14 club, Toulouse.

Setefano Somoca is widely tipped to lead the Flying Fijians against Georgia in place of Manu.

Rokoura said since their arrival in Georgia yesterday, the players and team management have been reviewing footages from their game against Ireland XVs last weekend.

“We will be doing that again and trying to ascertain areas we need to improve on, particularly in our scrum and defence,” he said.

Rokoura said the players are feeling low knowing they did not perform well at the weekend, however it has not dampened their spirit to run again this weekend against Georgia in their final game tour.

The Flying Fijians have remained winless on their Northern Hemisphere tour - losing to England 54-12 in their opening game, conceeding a 29-31 loss to Gloucester and in their recent game, lost 53-0 to Ireland XVs last Sunday.

By Lavenia Vuadreu