Fiji Bati bid to win

The never-say-die attitude of the Vodafone Fiji Bati players on Saturday showed how important brotherhood was to the team.

Towards the end of the game, players were slower to get up and looked injured, but stood up anyway playing their hearts out.

"It is a sign of team spirit and harmony. They are prepared to do anything for each other. The credit goes to the senior player Kevin Naiqama, who instilled a proud culture," former Fiji Bati captain Petero Civoniceva said.

"We are proud of the brotherhood, which has grown throughout the course of this tournament."

A former Kangaroo himself, Civoniceva said if Fiji's defensive line held, the Bati could also surprise the Australian Kangaroos on Friday.

"We have a wonderful occasion for the boys to take on the world's best. It would be a game that many outside our time wouldn't think we would be capable of playing.

"But we've given ourselves every chance and we have shown last week that anything is possible.

"With the style we played last week, we showed that we could control the ball really well, we completed our sets well and that gave us a chance and defence was the cornerstone of that victory."

Civoniceva said defence would be critical when playing against players such as Cooper Cronk, Bill Slater and Cameron Smith.

"Your defence has to be on point, if it's not, Australia's got players who can really hurt or expose you," Civoniceva said.

Meanwhile,  Fiji Bati team spent most of Monday relaxing, but had an hour or so of recovery session at the Southbank in Brisbane, Australia.

Players had a pool session and finished with stretching exercises.

"I think for all of us we want to put what happened in the week behind us now. Now we focus on the next few days really to get preparation right.

"We need to make sure we have enough time to get over the bumps and bruises from the weekend and be ready.

"We have pretty much come through the game in good shape, only few bumps and bruises.

"It was a tough physical match(on Saturday)…for Mick Reid (trainer), in his program it is all about rest and recovery and for the body to be back to 110 per cent as quickly as possible."

While Fijian fans celebrated all over the globe on Sunday, the Fiji Bati team travelled to Brisbane.

"It (the win) was amazing and definitely announced ourselves to the Rugby League World that Fiji is a country on the rise.

"The general mood is that everyone was in the mood to just sit quietly after the game and just soak in what they have achieved.

"It hasn't hit home in its entirety because we got a short week in front of us," Civoniceva added. Fiji is injury free except for minor bumps and niggles.

SOURCE: FIJI TIMES/PACNEWS