Jamie Ritchie can’t wait to take on his friend and clubmate Bill Mata for the first time in four years when Scotland play Fiji at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.
The Scotland captain’s first international at the national stadium was the test against Fiji in 2018, and he scored a try in the 54-17 win.
Into the bargain, he got Big Bill’s jersey at the end.
“It’s going to be good fun,” said Ritchie. “There’s not been too much banter, I think we’ve both just been looking forward to it.
“My first game at Murrayfield back in 2018 was against Fiji and Bill was playing that day, and we swapped jerseys. So it will be a special day to get to run out with him on opposite sides.”
Mata is Edinburgh’s longest serving non-Scot, is a huge favourite of the capital club’s fans. But Ritchie thinks he doesn’t get credit for the kind of player he really is because of all the offloading.
“Bill’s actually pretty quiet,” said Ritchie. “We have a laugh and stuff, but he’s really a very intelligent rugby player. He doesn’t mess up a lineout call or doesn’t know a play.
“I expect that he’ll be a leader within that group, for the Fijian guys. We all know what he can do with the ball in hand, with his offloading game.
“He’s a pretty physical guy. We’ll be looking to get on the outside of him rather than run straight down his throat.”
‘We’re brimming with confidence’
🇫🇯😍 Bill Mata will start against Scotland for @fijirugby tomorrow afternoon!
Representing his homeland at his new home 💙 pic.twitter.com/MfjrkgPbPX
— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) November 4, 2022
Fiji will be a tougher nut to crack, thinks Ritchie, gaining from the attention to detail imposed by former Scotland head coach Vern Cotter, and from Scots breakdown specialist Richie Gray.
“We all know the talent as individuals that they have, playing across the world. When they get the opportunity to come together, they’re well coached and they’re a pretty formidable team.
“For us it’s about how we use our collective strengths, and we’ll look to impose our game on them. But we’re brimming with confidence.
“We know that we’ve got opportunities in the game that we’ve identified and we’ll be looking to exploit them.”
The lessons have been learned from the Australia loss, and the re-appearance of the exiles this week has added energy to the squad, he said.
“I think our main aim is a good performance,” added Ritchie. “As forwards we’re looking to improve around our lineout, and our discipline in there. We gave away a few too many penalties.
“Just to impose our game plan on them, not getting dragged into any kind of game that we don’t want to play.”
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