Fiji national rugby union team

They have beaten the major rugby playing sides of Wales, Scotland, Australia, France, Italy, Argentina and England.

The cibi (pronounced [ˈðimbi]) war dance is performed by the Fiji rugby team before each Test match.

Rugby was first played in Fiji by European and Fijian soldiers of the Native Constabulary at Ba, on Viti Levu Island in 1884.

During the 1927 season, a General Meeting was called for the purpose of arranging a return visit to New Zealand at the invitation of Auckland University.

Matches between the two Pacific nations were hard fought; many have claimed that the ancient feuding wars between the Islanders were transplanted onto the rugby field.

Fiji's captain for that tour, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, decided that his side should have a war dance to rival the haka.

He approached Ratu Bola, the high chief of the warrior clan of Navusaradave in Bau, who taught them the cibi which has been Fiji's pre-match ritual ever since.

Fiji's first tour of Australia helped the Australian Rugby Union recover from the brink of bankruptcy in 1952.

Fiji toured New Zealand again in 1957 and beat the Māori 36–13 in Dunedin and 17–8 in Wellington, then defeated a strong Auckland team 38–17.

In 1964 Fiji toured Europe for the first time, they played five memorable games in Wales, culminating in a classic encounter in Cardiff that was talked about for years.

Fiji played their first full test against Wales in Cardiff in 1985, the home pack dominating in a 40–3 win with two tries to Phil Davies.

Wales visited Suva the following year, where captain Dai Pickering's summer tour was to a premature end when he suffered concussion.

In 1987 Fiji made the quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup and seemed close to beating France according to the match referee, at one point even leading 4-3, but were eventually ground down by the French 31-16.

Fiji had a troubled tour of Wales and Ireland in 1995, losing six of nine games with defeat to Neath, Cardiff and Pontypridd.

Fiji rebuilt ahead of the 1999 World Cup, new coach Brad Johnstone instilling discipline and determination into their set-piece play.

A controversial refereeing performance from Paddy O'Brien was felt to have cost them a win over France, Fiji losing 28–19.

They had a very inexperienced team and lost to both pacific rivals Tonga and Samoa, and suffered heavy defeats to Australia and the Junior All Blacks.

Fiji were placed in Pool B of the 2007 Rugby World Cup along with Wales, Canada, Japan and Australia.

After beating Japan and Canada in close matches, Fiji rested several key players against Australia for the crucial game against Wales.

Fiji lost their quarter final match against South Africa, however their above expectations performance in the tournament resulted in them moving up to 9th in the world rankings – their highest ever position at the time.

Shannon Fraser and Gregg Mumm from Australia acted as assistant coaches for the period leading up to the world cup and were accredited for much of the Fijians side's success.

[citation needed] Fiji was placed in Pool D of the 2011 Rugby World Cup along with South Africa, Wales, Samoa and Namibia.

Fiji was placed in Pool C of the 2023 Rugby World Cup along with Georgia, Australia, Wales and Portugal.

The match was highly controversial due to the decisions of referee Matthew Carley,[citation needed] whose decisions attracted many complaints from Fijian fans, former rugby players and former Fiji 7s coach Ben Ryan,[citation needed] this was due to his decision to not give Wales a yellow card on multiple warnings after multiple penalties in their red zone and giving Fiji a yellow card after one offense in the red zone.

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Fiji national XV at test level up until 23 November 2024.

On 11 October 2024 the Fiji named a 39-player squad for their opening 2024 Autumn Tour tests against Scotland, Wales, Spain and Ireland.

Fiji team in 1924
Fiji team in 1932
Fiji team in 1939
Fiji team in 1948
Fiji team in 1964
Fiji vs South Africa at the 2007 RWC
Fiji presenting Cibi before 2011 Rugby World Cup match against South Africa .