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Everyone loves Fijian rugby! It is played beautifully with passion and joy. 

Going into the World Cup everyone who likes Fiji from loyal Fijian fans to those who just love rugby would have thought “What if?”. 

That “what if?” became far less far-fetched after the past 2 weekends. 

In the game against France, they held their own but were still outclassed. 

In the game against England, they put together a better performance and came away with a historic win! Yes, England were poor for large parts of the game but there was something that changed in how Fiji played. 

They kept calm, made the right decisions for the most part, and played really well-structured rugby where it was needed at lineouts, scrums, rucks, mauls, and when they needed to exit out of their own 22. 

They have locks and flankers that run like the centres of most countries and they possess a thrilling backline. This all sits on the back of a calm and collected flyhalf and this forms a very promising combination. 

Wales and the Wallabies are looking dreadful and Fiji will likely go through in this group. Depending on where they might have a favorable quarter-final draw and a historic semi-final appearance for the Islanders is definitely on the cards.

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Fabien Galthie has had a good run with France since joining the National Team as vice-head coach in 2019. 

As a player, he played most of his career at Colomiers from 1985-1995 when they were an amateur side and then from 1995-2001 when they turned professional. He was at Western Province for a season in 1995 and then played 31 games for Stade Francais from 2001-2003. 

He was also a French international player from 1991-2003 making 64 appearances and scoring 49 points. 

As a coach, he has been most impressive with stints at the top clubs in France since 2004. 

From 2004-2008 he coached Stade Francais, making it to both the Top 14 and Heineken Cup finals. He didn’t win either but his Stade Francais team eventually won the Top 14 in 2007. 

He joined Argentina as part of their coaching staff during their end-of-the-year tour of Europe in November and December of 2008.

From 2010 to 2014 he coached Montpellier where he reached the Top 14 final in his first year. 

From 2017-2018 he coached Toulon and was then appointed to the position of vice-head coach of the national team in 2019. He maintained this position under Jacques Brunel, until 2020 when he took over the reins as head coach.

Since then he turned France into a formidable force. 

He has won 31/39 games for a 79% win percentage. His win percentage has been 100% against Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa and Wales. 

Going into a World Cup, at home in France, you can’t ask for a better record or a more patriotic and dynamic coach. 

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Whether you love or hate Eddie Jones, you have to respect him. He has been instrumental in so many teams to take them to a whole new level

Eddie played club rugby at Randwick Rugby Club from 1981 to 1991 with a massive 210 appearances! 

He had a short stint at Leicester Tigers in 1991/1992 and New South Wales from 1987 – 1989. 

Since 1994 he has however been a very active coach. He coached Randwick, Tokai University, Suntory Sungoliath, the ACT Brumbies, Queensland Reds and Saracens. During this time he acted as either coach, assistant coach, or technical advisor. 

In 2001 he got his first taste of international coaching when he coached Australia until 2005. He had a 33/59 record (56% win record). He won a Bledisloe Cup and drew one. He got to the 2003 World Cup final where a rampant Jonny Wilkinson led England to the victory. 

In 2007 he was the technical advisor to the Springboks and picked up a Rugby World Cup winners medal in the process!

While coaching Japan from 2012 to 2015, he transformed the team and they caused a shock upset at the 2015 World Cup by beating South Africa. Japan had a 32/45 (71% wins) record during that time.

After the World Cup, he took over a broken England team. England were knocked out of that World Cup, that they hosted, in the pool stages! In the time that Eddie coached England from 2015 to 2022, he won 3 x 6 Nations tournaments (2016, 2017, and 2020) with a Grand Slam in 2016. At the 2019 World Cup, he steered the England team to the World Cup final where they met a rampant South Africa team who beat them on the day. 

After taking over at Australia earlier in 2023 he hasn’t had the best run but he is a genius and if anyone can get this team up to a competitive level, he can. 

He has also now gotten in the services of the formidable Steve Hansen and that sounds like one of the most deadly coaching combos you will find in World Rugby!

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Jacques Nienaber had an interesting route that he followed to get to the Springboks head coach position. 

The key catalyst for him was his relationship with the often controversial but brilliant Rassie Erasmus. 

After finishing his schooling at Grey College, the top rugby school in the world where he played for their 1st team, he went on to the University of the Free State where he started collaborating with Rassie. 

Jacques didn’t play competitive rugby after school and his first involvement with rugby after school didn’t involve any coaching. From 1997 to 2007 he was the physio for the Free State Cheetahs. In 2005 his paths crossed with Rassie again when Rassie started coaching the Cheetahs. 

Since then they have been a great duo. They also worked together in the same capacity at the Stormers when Rassie became the director of rugby in Cape Town. In 2008 he switched over to coaching with a focus on defensive coaching initially. 

From 2008 to 2014 he was involved in this capacity at Western Province and the Stormers and then became an assistant coach for the Springbok team from 2011 to 2016. 

This led to him coaching Munster in 2016/2017 after which he became assistant coach for South Africa again. In this capacity, he was part of the team that won the Rugby World Cup in 2019!

Since 2020 he has been the head coach and has had a bit of an up-and-down run. Overall he won 17/27 matches (63%) with a respectable 50% win record against the All Blacks and a series win against the British and Irish Lions. 

Unfortunately, he’s not yet secured a win against France or Ireland. 

Going into the 2023 tournament he will face his biggest test yet. The type of rugby that the Springboks started playing at the end of 2022 moved away from their signature style of play but is a lot more exciting. 

If he can get his youthful but highly talented backline combinations to work at the World Cup there might be an upset on the cards…

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Ian Foster’s rugby pedigree might not be as well known outside New Zealand but his numbers speak for themselves. Many share my sentiment that Scott Robertson might have been the better option to lead the All Blacks to the World Cup but Ian Foster was the chosen option. 

Ian has been all about rugby for a few decades now and it all started as a player at Waikato. He played a franchise record of 148 games for Waikato. Between 1989 and 1998 he racked up 174 games for Waikato and the Chiefs and also amassed 489 points. 

Four years later he stepped into the role of coaching Waikato in 2002/2003 before moving on to the Chiefs where he coached from 2004 to 2011. 

During this time he also coached the junior All Blacks from 2005 to 2007. 

His record at the Chiefs, which saw them as a prominent team in Super Rugby, landed him the All Blacks assistant coach job in 2012, which he held until 2019. 

From 2020 he has been the head coach of the All Blacks but things have not been a fairytale for him as head coach. 

The All Blacks are growing in stature and getting back to their best form but his tenure has been rocky. 

During his time as head coach, he has a 26/37 record (just over 70% won), which is by far the lowest win percentage for the All Blacks in the past few decades. Rarely have they dipped under 85% for any extended period of time. 

The big lowlights in recent times have been the draw to England, the 25% win rate against Ireland, and the 2 losses to Argentina! 

There is an uphill battle for him to really stand up and be counted as a worthy All Blacks coach. He does however have the right personnel in his coaching team and the backing of a fanatic rugby nation.

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An interesting weekend of rugby but without any unexpected results. 

The World Cup warm-up games are often misleading and not really a true reflection of the real strength and weaknesses of teams. There are a number of things that are quite clear from watching these games.

Springboks vs Wales – It was expected to be a one-sided game and it was. The Springbok team dominated Wales in all facets of the game. They were lucky with their two intercept tries and the penalty try should not have been awarded. Siya Kolisi had an impactful game and everyone was relieved to see him in good form and completing 40 minutes. For Wales, there are more questions than answers. They were bullied into submission and show a worrying lack of depth in their squad. Yes, it was a less experienced team but they were just not good enough to compete. 

Ireland vs England – The 19-point margin that Ireland won the game with, takes some credit away from England’s much-improved display. A few things started to fall in place for them but they are still only halfway there at best. While their overall gameplay was much improved, their discipline wasn’t. Another week, another red card for a dangerous tackle. They now have two players who should be banned from competing at the World Cup. Ireland on the other hand was methodical, kept the scoreboard ticking and their win was never in doubt.

Georgia vs USA – Georgia came away with the expected win against the USA. The USA had a point to prove but Georgia wasn’t having any of it coming away with a solid win. Most of the smaller teams don’t have the luxury or budget to get in many warmup matches but I am glad they got this chance. 

Italy vs Romania – Italy absolutely crushed Romania and continues to play exciting rugby. If anyone said 5 years ago that “Italy” and “exciting rugby” would be said in the same sentence, it would have been laughed at. Ange Capuozzo continues to dazzle with his skills and his two tries in the 57-7 demolition of Romania were telling.

France vs Fiji – This game delivered a great end to the weekend’s rugby. France was too good for Fiji but Fiji was in the game for most of the time. They were better than I expected and I think they have a realistic chance of going through to the knockout stages with Australia if they keep playing like this. The 34-17 scoreline slightly flattered France. 

The teams that had the best weekend in my opinion were South Africa, France, Ireland, Italy, and Fiji, despite their loss.