Two sisters who have their birthdays a week after each other’s decided to mark their special day in a unique and extravagant way by watching the Flying Fijians first match at the Rugby World Cup in France.
Elder sister Nirvana Karan, a Psychiatrist by profession who now resides in Brisbane, Australia decided to fly back home and pick her younger sibling Narisha and take the long journey from Nadi.
Sharing the experience, Nairvana told FijiLive that they have been following Fiji’s progress and thought they’d definitely be giving the other teams a run for their money at the World Cup, and they just did that yesterday in Bordeaux, although they fell short to Wales in the gallant fight back.
“Due to leave restrictions and the RWC is so spread out, we decided the Wales vs Fiji game would be the one to watch especially as we thought it would be crucial for Fiji’s aim towards the quarter finals.”
“We wanted to watch the Australia vs Fiji too but our flights didn’t align.”
“We started this long journey – flew from Nadi to Los Angeles and then to Paris before taking a fast train to Bordeaux.”
“We were so knackered after the long flights arriving on Saturday. So we decided to explore Bordeaux city during the day before the match and the atmosphere was so much fun.”
“The whole city was decorated with flags for the RWC and it was so exciting to see our little island’s flags everywhere.”
“Although there were so many Welsh supporters everywhere, you could still see pockets of local French people dressed in white/ blue t-shirts with colourful lei’s sitting and drinking and screaming ‘Fiji Fiji” to the passing red t-shirts.”
“I think we spent the day screaming “Fiji Fiji” back too.”
“It was a lot of fun and we got stopped a few times by passersby asking us where we’d travelled from and exchanging some fun rivalry commentary.”
She said in the evening they drove to the stadium with their Fijian flags hanging out of the car and this certainly grabbed a lot of attention from bystanders and supporters of the Welsh team.
“The passing Wales fans were cheering us up. The atmosphere at the stadium had us awe struck.”
“There was just so much red everywhere. It was so charged and tense during the game.”
“Everyone was literally sitting on the edge of their seats. We were quite close to the grounds and the action was super thrilling.”
The former Korovuto resident from Nadi said even though there was so much red everywhere, the Fijian players are loved everywhere they play and there were very loud cheers and chanting for Fiji too.
“We were sitting beside local French people who actually were cheering for Fiji”
She said there were lots of heart stopping rugby moments as well for them and sitting in the stands and witnessing it all was more tensed and electrifying.
“Especially, that tackle by Nayacalevu and when Radradra dropped that ball. Even the Welsh fans thought it was going to be a score!.”
“Well we thought the other try that the referee didn’t award was a score too but we won’t go there today.”
“How frustrating for the boys too. But definitely they will do better and come out stronger in the remaining games.”
Though the sisters will not be physically present in Fiji’s remaining games, they will be glued to their television sets in Nadi and in Brisbane and cheering on the team and praying for their success in the World Cup.
Meanwhile the Flying Fijians will face Australia in their second match at 3.45 am (Fiji Time) on Monday.
