Scotland have to been more clinical and better disciplined or they’ll be punished by “the Brazil of rugby” at BT Murrayfield next week, believes head coach Gregor Townsend.
Townsend bemoaned his side’s failure to turn possession and territory into points at the Principality Stadium, as well as the defensive lapses that cost two tries in the 21-10 defeat to Wales, their tenth successive loss in Cardiff.
And similar failures will be as costly against the Fijians, the visitors to a sold-out Murrayfield in the first of the three home Autumn Tests.
“I believe they are becoming a major threat,” he said of the Islanders. “I really believe – and I hope it’s not in the next couple of weeks – that they can beat any team in the world on their day.
“I see them as similar to Brazilian football. They have the best natural rugby players. We know that Leone Nakawara was voted the best player in Europe last year, and Peceli Yato, the back row at Clermont – and must be one of the best in the world.
“And the back line are all outstanding. I don’t think Niko (Matawalu) is in the squad and he scored three tries for Glasgow on Friday night, which shows you what kind of strength they have.”
Scotland have to shake off the rust especially in attack they suffered from in Cardiff, while holding on to the ball better than they did against the Welsh pressure defence.
“We’ve got to be accurate. That will be the No. 1 thing – Fiji score the most tries of any team in the world off turnover ball,” continued Townsend.
“Most teams are about (score off turnovers) 15 to 10 per cent, they are 66 per cent. Their set-piece is much improved, they’ve got a very good front five now.”
The need for accuracy might limit the options of Finn Russell or Adam Hastings, who like to play a more open style, but Townsend thinks they’ll have to rein in their wilder instincts.
“They’ll have to be disciplined and accurate this week,” he said. “The other thing we didn’t do well, when we played Fiji (and lost in Suva) 18 months ago, was cope with the physicality.
“They beat us in the contact area. That was very disappointing, so we’ve got to make sure we’re physical and accurate, play to our strengths, put them under pressure and put them into areas they don’t want to go.”
Townsend conceded that there might have been a post-traumatic effect from Scotland’s disastrous 6 Nations trip to Cardiff in February as a reason his side were so tentative in the key first 20-25 minutes, when Wales broke out to a 9-0 lead,
“I think the atmosphere for a few players was brand new and maybe they took a while to realise this was just another game,” he said. “Someone like Adam (Hastings) had not played here before.
“But yes, we were a little bit on the back foot in that first 20 minutes. To give them a nine-point start with not having fired any shots was disappointing.
“When we started to step up in defence, you could see the confidence start to come through, but those nine points were a big factor in the final score.”
There were no serious injuries eminating from Cardiff, but it’s unlikely Scotland will have new recruit Blade Thomson for the next few weeks as the back rower was hospitalised after being knocked out for the Scarlets against Edinburgh on Friday night.
“We have spoken to Blade, everything’s okay with his neck but he did pick up a concussion,” said Townsend.