Suva-born Suliasi Vunivalu is expecting no preferential treatment and favors from the Flying Fijians when they face off in the crucial match at the Rugby World Cup on Monday.
Australia played Fiji in the pool stage at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and Vunivalu said he had not been comforted when he asked fellow team mate Marika Koroibete to find out what kind of reception he and Samu Kerevi had received in Sapporo.
“I was speaking to Marika about the last World Cup and what they were saying, were they like trying to aim at them like Fijian on Fijian?,” he told reporters on Wednesday, Discourse on Development reported.
“And he was saying yes, they were mentioning stuff about Samu like ‘belt him, belt him!’ in Fijian.”
“I was like, ‘did Samu know?’ and he was like ‘nah, we didn’t want to tell Samu about that’. But I think they’ll be looking forward to the same situation this week.”
The Fijians might want to reconsider their approach in Monday’s clash as both winger Koroibete and blockbusting centre Kerevi scored tries in Australia’s 39-21 win over Fiji four years ago.
“And he was saying yes, they were mentioning stuff about Samu like ‘belt him, belt him!’ in Fijian. “I was like, ‘did Samu know?’ and he was like ‘nah, we didn’t want to tell Samu about that’.
Wallabies will play the Flying Fijians at 3.45am in Saint-Etienne, Paris.
