Rugby-mad Fiji dreams of World Cup knock-out glory

Fiji's fairytale World Cup campaign has captured the imagination of the rugby-mad Pacific nation, where fans are willing their fleet-footed rugby heroes into the knock-out stages.

An upset win over Australia has left the Flying Fijians on the verge of making the quarter-finals of a World Cup for the first time since 2007.

The capital Suva is buzzing with rugby talk.

Carletta Yee, 16, who captained her school's under-18 girls team to the final of Fiji's national schools competition earlier this year, says the form of the men's national team has fuelled her rugby ambitions.

"It’s very inspirational, we didn’t expect them to go that far," she told AFP.

"They have proved us wrong and we are all expecting them to continue to prove us wrong."

Fiji are the reigning Olympic men's Sevens champions.

Fijian rugby players tend to excel at the abbreviated game with slick handling, fast feet, crunching tackles and a desire to run the ball from anywhere -- often ending with outrageous tries.

But under head coach Simon Raiwalui, their 15-a-side national team has stepped up by beating England at Twickenham in a warm-up game before stunning Eddie Jones' Australia 22-15 at the World Cup and carving out a 17-12 win over tier-two side Georgia.

A narrow nailbiting loss to Wales, decided in the dying seconds, has been their only World Cup defeat.

Fiji need just one point against Portugal on Sunday to confirm second place in Pool C on the head-to-head rule, having already beaten Australia.

The Fiji Rugby Union estimates there are 60,000 senior players nationally and Yee is one of around 20,000 school children who play the game.

The budding rugby talent is inspired by how the Flying Fijians are faring in France.

ROLE MODELS

"Qualifying to the knock-out stages would show the younger players that it is possible for them to reach that stage too and play against the best in the world, because we’ve seen our players and our role models do it," she said.

"A lot of the sides the team is playing against have much better facilities and more resources, which are very limited here in Fiji, along with the level of coaching and development that our country has, but it has never stopped us."

On Suva's streets, quarter-finals talk is never far away.

"They can do it, and I trust them to do it," said street vendor Sairusi Tokaniono, adding that the narrow defeat to Wales showed what the team can do.

"From that game, I knew they have what it takes to make it to the quarter-finals and even beyond."

At O'Reilly's, an Irish pub in central Suva that shows live rugby on big screens, manager Wise Liwaiono said the hot topic was how far the team will go.

He insisted Fiji were unlucky to lose to the Welsh when veteran Semi Radradra knocked the ball on in the dying stages with the try-line at his mercy.

"Everyone knew Fiji won that game against Wales -- that should have been theirs -- and that was when everyone got behind them and it sort of solidified the movement for this team," said Wise.

"Going into this World Cup, everybody was a bit doubtful of this team," he said after Raiwalui had opted to leave out experienced players, like veteran fly-half Ben Volavola.

Wise said since the win over Australia, Fijian rugby fans have started to dream of the knock-out stages.

"People have the confidence right now to say they can reach the quarter final, the semi final, and even the final," he added with a grin.

"It can happen, nothing is impossible."