Scotland v Fiji: Autumn Nations Series 2022, Match Preview pt I

KO 1.00 at BT Murrayfield
Saturday 5th November 2022
Live on Amazon Prime Video

When these sides last met at Murrayfield, in 2018, the Scottish Rugby Blog’s preview lamented the fact that this was only Fiji’s 12th game against a Tier 1 side across two World Cup cycles (excluding RWCs themselves). The Flying Fijians may have lost that match but then went out and beat France in the Stade de France two weeks later.

Four years on, things don’t seem to have improved greatly though. While there are certainly mitigating factors – with the small matter of coronavirus interfering – apart from a double header against New Zealand last summer, Fiji’s only other Tier 1 clash since 2019 was against Wales during the 2021 Autumn Nations Series.

They have back to back fixtures against Scotland and Ireland this November and warmups versus England and France next summer before they tackle Wales in Bordeaux to kick off their World Cup campaign next year. Far from the ideal level of preparation against top teams and not one that any Tier 1 side would find acceptable…

Fiji Scouting Report

Murrayfield: the ReVern

For better or worse, Vernon Anthony Cotter has loomed large over Scottish Rugby since he bade a tearful farewell to the national stadium five years ago. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the former Clermont coach either since he departed the Scotland job. Runners-up in the Top 14 in his first season in charge of Montpellier was a solid return but possibly not enough for a demanding billionaire owner who had made Cotter the highest paid coach in world rugby.

After being bumped upstairs to director of rugby following a disappointing second season, the Kiwi was released early from his contract. That then meant he was available to take on the Fiji job in 2020 but opportunities to actually play games and see how he can develop a talented group of players have been severely limited.

On Saturday, Vern Cotter and Gregor Townsend will go head to head for the first time in their coaching careers. They are the only two coaches to maintain a win percentage in excess of 50% during the pro era for Scotland (Cotter – 52.8%; Townsend 53.4%; the total for the other coaches combined is 37.8%).

Comparative records v Tier 1 nations:

Who’s got 10?

A Racing 92 stand off who has been near ever-present for his country since the mid 2010s, surprisingly dropped from the national squad with less than a year to go before the World Cup. No, not Finn Russell, but rather his clubmate and fellow nonconfirmist, Ben Volavola.

The difference currently is that there are (Twitter) rumours that Ben Ten will join up with the Flying Fijians this week ahead of the Scotland game. There don’t appear to be any such rumblings about a recall for Russell…

Even if Volavola is in the wider squad by the time Saturday rolls around, with just 19 minutes of game time this season, it would be a surprise if Vern Cotter handed the fly half the keys to the kingdom. The options appear to be 31-year old Teti Tela or, potentially more excitingly for Fiji’s future, 24-year old Vilimoni Botitu.

Tela was a regular at 10 for the Fijian Drua in Super Rugby this season and started in the same position in games against Tonga and Australia A during July, making him the continuity candidate. Botitu’s very strong credentials are 32 starts in the Top 14 for Castres over the last 22 months after joining up from Fiji 7s – with the slight caveat that every one of those starts came in the centres!

The exiled maverick. The experienced alternative. The uber talent shoehorned in from another position. Haven’t we heard this story somewhere before?

Miscellaneous

• In their last encounter against a Tier 1 side, Fiji terrified Wales for more than an hour, despite playing from the 24th minute a man down – and for 10 minutes either side of half-time with only 13.
• With Fiji in front 23-14 the visitors received their second yellow card in the 62nd minute. Wales took full advantage, bagging two quick tries and the lead in the game while their opponents were down to 13 again. Two further tries padded the scoreboard and rather masked that this was a match in which Wales were sorely tested.
• Scotland’s coaches will look at the 41 missed tackles by Fiji against the Welsh and consider that defence remains an area that is ripe to be exploited. Just don’t turn over the ball though…
• Bill Mata. That’s it. Just – Bill Mata.

Previous results

This will be the 5th time the two sides have met in Scotland. The head to head looks like this from the home side’s perspective:

W W W W

Most recent meeting in Edinburgh:

Scotland 54 – 17 Fiji

Significant stat
1 – tries scored by Allan Dell in his international career, at an average of a try every 1,453 minutes played. The prop crossed against Fiji to break his international duck and kick things off in this game, and was quickly followed by Fraser Brown. While the paying punters will want to see the ball moving and some free-flowing attack it may need to be the big men up front who wear the visitors down initially.

The Scottish Rugby Blog match report from that game is here.

Officials

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant Referee 1: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant Referee 2: Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Brett Conan (Australia)

This will be the fourth time in their last fourteen Tests that Scotland have been refereed by Mr Berry – and the third time in 2022 alone. The dark blues have struggled with the former scrum half’s breakdown interpretation in the past. They will need to get this right to avoid wasted opportunities in attack and needless penalties conceded in defence.

Scotland’s previous games with Mr Berry in charge:

• 2017 – beat Samoa (H)
  Penalties: 18 (For 9 – 9 Against)
  Cards: none
• 2019 – lost to France (A)
  Penalties: 22 (For 10 – 12 Against)
  Cards: France 1 YC
• 2021 – beat Tonga (H)
  Penalties: 21 (For 12 – 9 Against)
  Cards:  Rob Harley (YC), Tonga 1 YC
• 2022 – lost to Wales (A)
  Penalties: 21 (For 8 – 13 Against)
  Cards: Finn Russell (YC)
• 2022 – lost to Argentina (A)
  Penalties: 20 (For 10 – 10 Against)
  Cards: none

Part II of the preview, including the head to heads, will follow later in the week after the teams have been named.

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