The Flying Fijians are going to need more firepower to match it with the All Blacks

The Flying Fijians will be facing the All Blacks at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego next month nd they will be in need of more firepower.

The Flying Fijians played exceptionally well against the Barbarians last week and managed to tie with them at halftime before ultimately falling to them 45-32.

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For a team that was essentially the Fijian Drua plus Vilimoni Botitu, the team showed grit and astounding potential for this year.

That will unfortunately not be enough, however, because soon Fiji will be against one of the best rugby teams in the world and it will be a difficult match as it always is.

I don’t mean to belittle Fiji’s achievement of beating the Wallabies last year but they will be facing a national team that has been repeatedly beating the Wallabies over and over again with relative ease.

Unless the match was in either Lautoka or Suva, the New Zealand-based Super Rugby teams always beat the Drua…badly.

Former Flying Fijians coach Simon Raiwalui pitched the idea of Hoskins Sotutu joining the Flying Fijians this year after being one of the outstanding players of the Blues but being omitted from Scott Robertson’s All Blacks squad.

Semi Radradra. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Even if that rare scenario does happen, they will need a lot more firepower when it comes to the All Blacks.

The All Blacks are a combination of power, strength, speed, agility and endurance, something Fiji can be if they have the right players.

The power of Peni Ravai, Sam Matavesi, Luke Tagi, Lekima Tagitagivalu, Albert Tuisue and Kitione Salawa combined with the kicking prowess of Caleb Muntz, the speed of Semi Radradra and Jiuta Wainiqolo would be deadly for any rugby team.

Against the All Blacks, they need some more power on the wing and the fullback position will need to be someone more skilled.

Having a powerful back-rower in the form of Sotutu would help the Fijian national rugby team since La Rochelle is adamant about not releasing Levani Botia for this Test match, but they would also need a powerful winger to match Semi Radradra’s speed.

Wainiqolo is a strong ball runner which will help to go against Caleb Clarke or Etene Nanai-Seturo but what if Winiqolo has to leave the field. Who takes his place?

Selestino Ravutaumada and Iosefo Masi have opted to join the Fiji 7s team and head to the Olympics and Ravutaumada is a strong attacking winger.

While Masi will be covered since Vilimoni Botitu, Waisea Nayacalevu and Inia Tabuavou are still there.

After Ravutaumada is gone, it will just be Radradra and Wainiqolo. There has to be another winger.

Mick Byrne should look at recruiting Taqele Naiyaravoro who has become an even more powerful player in the Northern Hemisphere ever since he left the Waratahs after 2018.

Naiyaravoro would be useful in disabling Caleb Clarke and his speed that seems to defy his size along with his strength would help with the line breaks that Fijians are good at creating.

Hurricanes fullback Salesi Rayasi should also be another option as Ilaisa Droasese was incompetent throughout the Super Rugby season.

The same cannot be said for Rayasi as the Fijian-born fullback managed to break the defences of multiple teams throughout the season before the Hurricanes exited in the semi-finals.

He would be a far wiser investment for Byrne than Droasese.

Botia isn’t the only Fijian being held back by his club as Racing 92 won’t release Josua Tuisova.

The reasons for this are unknown, but if Tuisova won’t be put on the wing, then his brother Filipe Nakosi should play in his place.

Nakosi is essentially a younger version of his big brother which would be dangerous for Nanai-Seturo to face.

If Nakosi won’t be put forward then perhaps Kini Naholo would be a good replacement.

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The massive prop-sized winger caused destruction for the Hurricanes in almost every match he played and was compared to All Black great Jonah Lomu earlier in the year.

If Byrne is still looking for more forwards, maybe Seru Uru is available.