Māori All Blacks ready to bounce back against Fiji in Rotorua

The Māori All Blacks train at Puketawhero Park ahead of their rematch against Fiji on Saturday. Photo / Stephen Parker

On Saturday, Fiji pulled off a massive upset, beating the Māori All Blacks for the first time in more than 60 years with a 27-10 win in Suva. The last time the Fijians beat their Māori counterparts was a 17-8 win in Dunedin in 1957. Luckily for the Māori All Blacks, this is a rare two-game series, with the second to be played at Rotorua International Stadium on Saturday night. The team are busy preparing for that match now and Rotorua Daily Post sports reporter David Beck spoke to some of them about how they planned to bounce back.

The Māori All Blacks were ambushed in a 27-10 loss to Fiji in Suva on Saturday but they have returned to New Zealand full of energy and ready to make amends in Rotorua.

Assistant coach Joe Maddock said there was "a fair bit of disappointment" about the result.

"To be fair, they probably just won the physical battle - big bodies and they dominated the collisions so there will be a fair bit of focus on that for us this week, making sure we're up to it physically.

"We had a big travel day on Sunday post-game so we've had a fair bit of time to digest Saturday's performance. They're in good spirits and it's not often we get the chance to play the same team back-to back so for us to be able to have another crack at the Fijians at home, in front of our family and friends, is pretty exciting."

He said the Fijian fans set a high standard in terms of supporting their team.

"There's big expectations on our crowd, the Fijians were very vocal. We're expecting a fair bit from our fans, hopefully they bring a lot of volume because we know that the players will feed off that."

Looking ahead to this weekend's game, Maddock wanted to see his players back themselves.

"Backing ourselves, backing our skills - we probably didn't execute things as well as we should've so backing our execution to play and put the Fijians under pressure."

Māori All Blacks midfielder Alex Nankivell was on the bench for the first 55 minutes in Fiji so he had a good view of how things panned out.

"It looked like we were a bit shocked by the heat and just the intent that the Fijians brought. They were physical and threw the ball around, which we expected, but they probably got the upper hand on us there and we struggled a bit with defending the whole time.

"[The work-ons are] definitely a few things around our mindset. Māori rugby, from what I've seen in the past, is about throwing the ball around, having fun and using the width. I think in terms of our mindset we weren't quite there."

Despite the loss, it was a special game for Nankivell, his first in the Māori All Blacks jersey.

"It's always been a dream of mine to wear the black jersey, that's still the dream, so to make this team is pretty special. I was pretty surprised, there are a lot of good players out there that could've been here. It's still surreal, I don't think it's kicked in yet quite how special it is but it definitely means a lot and means a lot to my family too.

"I can't wait to play in front of the home crowd, I've got a lot of family coming so it will be pretty special to run out in front of them."

Māori All Blacks winger Sean Wainui was the only player on his side to trouble the scorers on Saturday, scoring two unconverted tries. He said he was "gutted" about the defeat.

"Obviously it was pretty difficult but it was good to get some combinations going. I tried my best out there as everyone else did. The result didn't go our way, we didn't play our best but we're looking to rectify that this week.

"They're quite a physical team and they get some offloads so we need to get in nice and early, chop them down and get the ball so they can't offload."

It was the second time he has played a game in Fiji this year and he enjoyed the atmosphere.

"The atmosphere is awesome, I love playing there. We played there earlier in the year with the Chiefs and their supporters are awesome. They support both teams but obviously their home team real well."

Māori All Blacks v Fiji
Saturday, July 20 at 7.35pm
Rotorua International Stadium