Vereniki Goneva believes the enormous financial gulf between England and Fiji will play into the visitors’ hands at Twickenham tonight.
The Leicester centre who was the Aviva Premiership’s top try-scorer two seasons ago, believes that even though his Fiji side do not have the resources afforded Stuart Lancaster’s men they have the priceless advantage of team unity.
Goneva said: ‘It’s not so much that people in Fiji have more pride in their national team, more that everyone talks about the team and I think it also comes a little more naturally for the Pacific Island players.
‘It’s interesting, it’s the social traditions we have, whereas western society has become very individualistic. Fijian society is very much based on where we come from and the family values. In terms of team building, it’s very easy to build that unity.’
England’s players would be in line for a £100,000-a-man bonus if they win the World Cup but several members of Fiji’s team are playing for free.‘I have had experience in other professional teams where a lot of time can be spent on team building as the players have a very individualistic outlook,’ Goneva added.
‘The payments to represent Fiji are very small compared to representing England, Australia, New Zealand or the other major nations. If it comes down to a financial decision then perhaps the player wouldn’t represent Fiji, but that’s not a motivator for them.’
l Fiji will perform the ‘Bole’ before tonight’s match — their version of the haka which replaced the ‘Cibi’ cry in 2012. – Daily Mail