Wallabies met their match in Fiji as time comes to build rivalry into a main event

Tell it to the three Fijian players, down on their haunches and inconsolable after giving up a late and decisive try to the Wallabies in Sunday’s enthralling Test. Tell it to the passionate Fiji coach Mick Byrne, who was still bristling an hour after the full-time whistle at refereeing decisions he believed cost his team a historic victory.

Tell it to the 28,132 fans, who set a new crowd record for a rugby union match in Newcastle, offering a spirited atmosphere on a glorious winter’s afternoon in the Hunter. Tell it to the wider Pacific rugby community, who once again watched the Australians meet their match against a Fijian team that had bettered them at the 2023 World Cup, and came within a try of upsetting a heavily-fancied England side in the quarter-finals. Who sit just one place below the Wallabies in the world rankings.

A Fijian team who offer the closest thing today to Jonah Lomu in the form of centre Josua Tuisova. Sunday’s shift for the No 12 started when he ran over Noah Lolesio with his first carry, before he bumped off Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii from a second half ruck like he was a colts player, then gave substitute Ben Donaldson a welcome that left him flat on his back.

A nation whose brilliance in rugby sevens has quickly escalated from a fairytale to a fait accompli. A Tokyo gold medallist from the compressed format, Jiuta Wainiqolo, swerved and loped and glided through five Wallabies in Sunday’s headline moment. The winger’s run set up Lekima Tagitagivalu for the best try any code of rugby will produce all year.

In a sport whose strength has always been its rich global heritage and compelling international storylines, dare tell those who witnessed such a mesmerising spectacle this one thing ... that Sunday’s outing was just a warm-up for the Wallabies’ coming series against the Lions.

View image in fullscreen Fiji players slump to the turf after Harry Wilson scores the match-winning try for the Wallabies in Newcastle. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

This notion has been adopted by many of those in Australia, and the term “warm-up” even founds its way into the Guardian’s own pages. Of course, the time spent by Wallabies aspirants in Joe Schmidt’s camp ahead of Sunday’s clash was important for developing connections for the first Lions Test in two weeks. But matches between Fiji and the Wallabies don’t come around very often, just five in the last decade, and three of those came in World Cups. The last time the Wallabies played in Fiji was in 1984.

Byrne knows Australia. The Sydneysider played Australian rules football and won a VFL premiership with Hawthorn in 1983, finishing fifth in Brownlow voting that year. It was the beginning of one of sport’s most compelling career arcs that has taken him from rugby league to AFL to rugby union, in Australia, Europe, North America and now the Pacific.

So it was left to the straight-talking, cross-code coaching Australian to put the local rhetoric in its place. “Everyone’s talking about the Wallabies’ warm-up game,” Byrne said after the match. “So I hope they feel nice and warmed up.”

The 66-year-old wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t laughing. He was stern and serious, adamant his team should be proud of their effort in pushing their regional big brother all the way, and reminding the rugby world his team is improving. “I wouldn’t be going down the road saying the Wallabies didn’t step up. I’d say, get ready for us, we’re coming.”

But while on the field they are proving to be the equals of the Wallabies, off the field they remain in another class. Their request to be part of the Lions tour was rebuffed. “We put our hand up earlier in the year when the Rebels missed out,” Byrne revealed. “But I get it, it’s an Australian opportunity, so the Australian-Pacific side [First Nations & Pasifika XV] is in there, it’ll be great.”

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The Lions series will deliver a huge economic windfall for Rugby Australia, and will kickstart the golden decade ahead of the men’s 2027 and women’s 2029 World Cups, both to be held in Australia. Then there is the ongoing sevens exposure in the Olympics culminating in a chase for medals at Brisbane 2032.

Yet when the decade ends, Australia can’t just be looking at the 2037 Lions Tour for its salvation. Leveraging the strength of Fiji, together with improvement from the likes of Samoa and Tonga, is Rugby Australia’s next major challenge. Perhaps the first step isn’t all that difficult.

Byrne noted the support for Fijian rugby from the Australian government – around $10m over seven years to support the Drua play in the men’s and women’s Super Rugby competitions. But when asked what one thing his adopted country needs most of all from Rugby Australia, his response was simple: “It’d be great to play Australia in Fiji.”

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