The Flying Fijians are playing in the quarter-finals for just the third time - one of only three Tier II teams to have reached this stage of the competition - Samoa in 1991 and 1995, and Japan in 2019, but none of them have ever been beyond that.
MARSEILLE - Fiji captain Waisea Nayacalevu says his country will be carrying the hopes of an entire region when they look to make history against England at the World Cup in Marseille on Sunday.They are one of only three Tier II teams to have reached this stage of the competition -- Samoa in 1991 and 1995, and Japan in 2019 -- but none of them have ever been beyond that."We have a lot of support from neighbouring countries so we're representing all the South Pacific.
"I'm proud to be Fijian but I'm also proud of the so-called developing nations, really pushing for the global game, how we improve it, create opportunities, how we break that barrier down," he said. In Fiji, the excitement has been building ahead of this match, with fans going to extraordinary lengths to watch their matches in the early hours of the morning."We've seen videos of people out in the boat or up on the hills just finding sources where they can get electricity, where they can get wifi just to watch the game.
That last point has not been lost on the England players, with replacement No.8 Billy Vunipola saying earlier this week that his team are happy to be "public enemy number one" in France.England coach Steve Borthwick has picked captain Owen Farrell at fly-half and dropped George Ford to the bench, despite his man-of-the-match displays in pool stage victories over Argentina and Japan.
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