Ireland Welcome High Flying Fijians

Ireland will welcome Fiji to Aviva Stadium this afternoon with a win under their belt and an improved performance against Argentina. Head Coach Andy Farrell has made a number of changes to the 23 man squad with first caps for Cormac Izuchuku and Gus McCarthy and a first start in his second international for Sam Prendergast. Jacob Stockdale is back in green for the first time since facing Samoa in 2023.

This will be the sixth Test meeting between the two sides, with Ireland having won all previous encounters. The most recent clash was in November 2022: a 35-17 victory for Ireland in Dublin.

Ireland have scored five or more tries in four of the games against the Flying Fijians, however as Fiji continue to build, Ireland have won their last two games by fewer than 20 points.

While Ireland have averaged over 40 points per game against Fiji, they narrowly escaped with a 23-20 win in their 2017 meeting.

Ireland ended a three-match losing streak in their last five Tests with a narrow victory over Argentina. While their scoreless second-half display against the Pumas highlighted areas for improvement, there were promising signs in the team’s second Autumn Nations Series outing.

Fiji, meanwhile, have had a mixed November. After a heavy loss to Scotland, they shocked Wales in Cardiff and followed it up with a 33-19 win over Spain, overturning a 19-7 deficit with four tries in the final 30 minutes.

They have won three out of their last four Test matches against European opposition, including each of their last two, however the Flying Fijians have never won three in a row against such opposition.

Ireland Captain Caelan Doris knows well the challenge today’s match represents, “I mean we definitely respect them, how they play. The two things you look at are their pace and their skillset, the way they throw the ball around, but also they’re a very powerful team.

“It’s going to be a very physical game. I remember the one a couple of years back for how physical it was.  It’s going to be the same tomorrow and looking forward to the challenge of that.

“I think they’ll probably be confident based off a couple of their results and how they’ve gone against Wales and Spain .”

Andy Farrell was asked about Fiji on Thursday and said,

 “You want to play against sides that are confident and who think that it’s an opportunity for themselves because we have to rise to that.

“Listening to their scrum-half yesterday, they expect that as well, which is great, you know.

“Why wouldn’t you? They’ve proved over the last couple of years their consistency of performance because of their players playing in big games, not just internationally but all around the world now.

“You look at the [Super Rugby side] Drua, you look at who’s involved in France, who’s involved in the UK, they’re all playing top-level rugby and playing bloody well in that regard so you would expect that to transfer.

“When you’ve got good coaching staff that’s bringing them together, the consistency and expectation should be where it is.

“That all accumulates to them believing in the performance they’re looking forward to out here on Saturday.”