15-10-2023 Breakfast Bites FIJI & PACIFIC SPORTS NEWS Podcast S07E14 #TeivovoSports #TeivovoDigital

Bula, Ma’lelei, Talofa and Welcome to Season 07 Episode 14 of Breakfast Bites, by TeivovoSports.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news, on a bright and sunny Sunday morning 15 October 2023.Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. BOOM against all odds – the first upset of the RWC2023 quarter-finals, Argentina has smashed Wales 17-29 in Marseille earlier this morning! Viva Los Pumas!And the New Zealand All Blacks are zuckerberging Ireland in Paris.Stick around for background buzz at the end of this podcast, where I dive into the Fiji versus England quarter-final coming up tomorrow morning.Results from the Rugby League 2023 Pacific Championships: The Australian Kangaroos crushed Toa Samoa 12-38 in their World Cup final rematch as debutants from both sides starred in Townsville last night.The Kangaroos scored four tries in the opening 15 minutes of their Pacific Championships clash with their Aussie-Samoan enforcers, Payne Haas and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui both scoring early, before the visitors rallied to stop the onslaught,Samoan debutant Sualauvi Fa’alogo was a standout, establishing himself as a star of the future.Earlier, the Australian women won their World Cup final rematch against New Zealand with a hard-fought 16-10 victory in Townsville as well - much closer than the World Cup decider which the Jillaroos won this time last year 54-4.We tip the Papua New Guinea Kumuls to corubarum the Cook Islands men and the Fiji women to bacardi Samoa women at Santos Stadium, Port Moresby later today.In Football: The Aussies couldn’t score against England, falling 1-0 in a gripping encounter at Wembley overnight.Australia’s well-drilled defence, hard tackling and dangerous attacking play gave the hosts plenty of headaches, particularly in a thrilling first half, but the Socceroos ultimately fell short after Ollie Watkins scored for the Three Lions, 12 minutes into the second half.In Combat sports: Our world famous tips for the Tszyu-Mendoza main event on the Gold Coast later today: In the main fight, we tip Tim Tszyu to pip Brian Mendoza on points for the World Super Welterweight title. And we tip Sam Goodman to KO Miguel Flores within the first five rounds of their featherweight scrap.OK so in background buzz today, I dive into the Fiji versus England quarter-final at 3AM tomorrow morning.Expect a low scoring game: England has conceded only three tries at RWC2023, the lowest of any team.Those three tries came from 26 entries into their red zone, averaging just two missed tackles per game when defending their line, the lowest of any team – so they are very strong in D.Fiji on the other hand, has scored the lowest tries of any RWC2023 quarter-finalist with just nine, and while Fiji scored 14 first-half points against Wales and 10 against Australia, they scored none against Georgia and only three against Portugal in the first half.Like New Zealand and South Africa, England has not conceded a try inside the opening 20 minutes at RWC2023, plus they have only conceded one second-half try in four games so far.Expect England to also kick a lot, as their attacking strategy has been to put boot to ball, averaging the most kicks in play - 40 of all teams at RWC2023, PLUS the most box kicks @ 45 and mid-field bombs @ 19 average per pool game, with 64% of their total kicks from outside their own 22M, the highest of all teams.Couple that with England being one of the lowest ball-carrying team’s per game – only 108 average carries in their pool games and you can see how they’re going to play.In fact, England’s 92 carries against Samoa was the third-lowest of all teams in RWC2023 pool games.Fiji has a contrasting attacking strategy to England, preferring to keep the ball in hand, averaging the second-most carries per game with 140.But, while Fiji is spending long periods of time in the opposition red zone, averaging the most rucks @ 40 and the second-most carries @ 46 per game of all teams in this zone, including a competition-high 11 pick-and-go carries, Fiji is NOT scoring points, let alone tries.In fact, in RWC2023 pool games, Fiji has averaged one of the lowest points per visit, while in the opposition red zone, per game.As I mentioned earlier, Fiji has scored only nine tries so far in RWC2023.Fiji lost to Portugal last week because they played too tight, running back into their forwards over and over again; playing a narrow attacking game which suited Portugal’s lumbering forwards.Consider, Fiji made 11 visits to the Portuguese red zone, but scored just two tries by playing it tight. England’s lumbering forwards, who are averaging one of the lowest missed tackle counts per game at RWC2023, are just gonna love Fiji running at them, rather than away from them.England has scored twice as many tries as Fiji. Of their 17 tries -· Seven originated from set-piece play· Five from counter attacks· Four from turnovers, and· One from a quick-tap penaltyUnlike other RWC2023 quarter-finalists, both England and Fiji are hopeless at line-out drives to score tries, with England launching nine lineouts 10M out from the opposition try-line, for just two tries.Fiji has launched eight lineouts 10M out from the opposition try-line, resulting in just one try.Worryingly, Fiji conceded 11 penalties against Portugal, their highest in all their games so far at RWC2023. They must maintain their discipline against England, who have made the most penalty goal attempts @ 14 of all teams in the pool rounds, and who have missed just four shots when choosing the three-point penalty option.England has also conceded one of the lowest average penalties per game of all teams at RWC2023 @ 8 per game.They have never received a card in a Rugby World Cup knock-out games, while Fiji has received four yellow cards at RWC2023, their highest in a RWC tournament in their history.In summary, for Fiji to win:· They must cut loose and spin the ball wide, especially off second phase and counter-attacks to score tries with their flair and support runners.· Fiji must keep the ball in hand and play it on their feet, rather than rumbling it up and going to ground so predictably now.· England will kick a lot, so Fiji must counter attack with open field running, rather than counter-kicking it back, or out of play.Toso Viti Toso! Go Fiji Go!And that’s a wrap baby!For TeivovoSports.com I’m Culden Kamea – please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.Mahalo, Kakite and tank you all too mas for all your love and support.#TEIVOVORugby #TEIVOVODigital #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #FRU #Fiji #womensrugby #rugbygirls #wrugby #ladiesrugby #womeninsport #woman #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #fitness #weightlifting #training #team #rugbytraining #sports #rakavi #DevelopmentFiji