Captain Qera banking on Fiji 'brotherhood' to down opponents

Fiji will play the Rugby World Cup curtain-raiser against hosts England in London on Sept. 18 and Qera said he hoped his team will bring their 'A' game to surprise the hosts.





"My personal view is that we've got a good bunch of boys and what we have over other teams is the brotherhood we have with each other," Qera was quoted as saying on the Rugby World Cup website (www.rugbyworldcup.com).

"We look after each other and we'd die for each other and that's the spirit we'll be taking through into our first game."

Fiji have a track record of upsets, stunning Wales in the 2007 World Cup and almost repeating the feat against eventual champions South Africa in the quarter-final in Marseille.

Their 2011 campaign was less impressive and they departed at the pool stage with a whimper rather than a bang after a 66-0 loss to the Welsh.

The Pacific Islanders also Wales, Australia and Uruguay in Pool A at the Sept. 18-Oct. 31 tournament.

"I have faith in my players and the management that if we come up with our 'A' game on the day, we can come up with some upsets," the 31-year-old flanker, whose heroics in 2007 helped his team reach the quarter-finals, said.

"With this bunch of boys, I have faith in them that we can surprise the world. Next week (against England) is a do-or-die game for us."





(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)


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