Fiji captain: We ‘weren’t going to play’ the World Cup quarter-final against England
Fiji captain Waisea Nayacalevu and England's Ollie Lawrence at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Fiji captain Waisea Nayacalevu has revealed that the Rugby World Cup quarter-final match against England almost didn’t happen.
In an extensive interview with the Daily Mail, Nayacalevu sensationally confirmed that the Fiji players were prepared to boycott the fixture over unpaid bonuses and corruption in the Fijian Rugby Union.
His claims come just a month after Fiji were reinstated to the World Rugby Council after a prolonged exile.
“We weren’t going to play”
Nayacalevu skippered his country at the World Cup in France and led the play strike threats to the bigwigs.
“We need to cut off this virus that has always been there,” the centre told the Daily Mail.
“There’s corruption in the Fiji rugby house. We weren’t going to play the match against England, we were going to walk out. They promised us things and we didn’t get it. We were promised a bonus.
“We were staying in Marseille and I organised a presentation, a Zoom call, I organised everything, to talk about what they had promised us. We gave them a date and said, ‘If you don’t pay by this day, nobody is going to play this quarter-final’.”
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It was not the first time that the union made empty promises to the players according to Nayacalevu but he and several senior players of the squad including Semi Radradra, Levani Botia, Albert Tuisue and Eroni Mawi were not willing to let it slide this time.
The veteran midfielder added that the fight with the Fijian Rugby Union proved to be a distraction for the squad as they chased history by taking their nation to the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in their history.
“I’ve played for Fiji for more than 10 years and it’s the same thing over and over again,” he said.
“It’s not the first time… boys getting half-paid, boys not getting paid for weeks. We were paid on the Thursday before the England match. It was close. It distracted our focus.
“Fiji has the potential to win the World Cup, that was our mindset last year. We were frustrated after the England match because we were building phases, but there were hands in every ruck, blocking the ball. We’re not playing with closed eyes.”
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Fiji could be better
Fiji claimed a famous victory over England at Twickenham before the Rugby World Cup but they were unable to back up that performance in France as they succumbed to a 30-24 defeat with George Ford slotting a drop goal and Owen Farrell adding a penalty in the final ten minutes of the match.
The 34-year-old believed that 2023 could have been his final year of international rugby which pushed him to fight even harder for himself and his team-mates. He has since played for Fiji this year but hopes that future generations of Flying Fijians will continue to stand up against the corruption.
“I told the team, ‘Boys, when I’m gone from here I hope you guys learn from this… when things happen in the future I hope you have the balls to put it in their face’,” he added.
“If we didn’t have corruption, if we had professional people in charge, then Fiji would be better. It’s not fair, but you have to go in there and fix it.”
Nayacalevu has spent most of his club career in France playing for the likes of Stade Francais and Toulon but made the switch to Sale Sharks this year, tasked with filling Manu Tuiliagi’s void in the Manchester club’s midfield.
