Ireland v Fiji, a look back on their four previous meetings

Ireland have won all four meetings against Fiji, with all of the matches played in Dublin

November 18th, 1995

Ireland 44 Fiji 8

Newly appointed Ireland head coach Murray Kidd got his tenure off to a winning start when his team scored six tries en route to a handsome victory over the tourists at Lansdowne Road.

Four days earlier the Fijians had lost 27-5 to Connacht at the Sportsground, although they did run Wales close, losing 19-15 in their only other Test match on the tour. The Wallace brothers, right wing Richard and tighthead prop Paul, both crossed for tries as did fullback Jim Staples, left wing Simon Geoghegan, secondrow Neil Francis and number eight that day, Paddy Johns.

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Paul Burke kicked four conversions and two penalties. Prop Joeli Veitayaki, who went on to spend a couple of seasons with Ulster played for Fiji that day.

November 17th, 2002

Ireland 64 Fiji 17

It was the day that Brian O’Driscoll equalled the Irish try scoring record of Brendan Mullin by crossing for his 17th try, one of nine that the home side tagged on that day.

Seven came from backs, three for O’Driscoll’s centre partner, Kevin Maggs, who is now part of the IRFU’s talent identification system in England, fullback Geordan Murphy who bagged a brace and Justin Bishop. Flanker Kieron Dawson and the late Anthony Foley.

It was an underwhelming occasion summed up at one point by the Fijian Sevens great Waisale Serevi dropping the ball five metres from the Irish line with no green shirts in sight and two men outside him. Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan said: “We were solid throughout and by and large I was happy with the structure of our game.”

November 21st, 2009

Ireland 44 Fiji 6

Johnny Sexton was one of three debutants on a squally night at the RDS, sharing the limelight with Sean O’Brien and Sean Cronin but not the man-of-the-match award which the outhalf landed along with seven place-kicks from as many attempts.

Keith Earls crossed for a brace of tries, one of the few occasions that he would have been cheered by most supporters at the home of Leinster rugby. Brian O’Driscoll intercepted a pass to race the length of the pitch, Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan also crossed the Fijian line.

Four of the Ireland pack that day, Leo Cullen (Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Ireland), Jerry Flannery (Harlequins) and Denis Leamy (Munster) are currently coaching while two of the backline Sexton (Leinster) and Earls are still playing rugby.

November 18th, 2017

Ireland 23 Fiji 20

This is a warning for the Ireland team that plays on Saturday. Five years ago, an Irish team under the coaching baton of Joe Schmidt came off a 38-3 thumping of South Africa, and barely escaped with a fortuitous win over Fiji. Schmidt made 13 changes for the match and despite the fact that Ireland raced into a 17-3 lead after 35 minutes through tries from Darren Sweetnam, Dave Kearney and Jack Conan, it took two late penalties by replacement outhalf Ian Keatley to secure the win.

Joey Carbery enjoyed a decent game until breaking his arm. One newspaper reported: “He (Carbery) made one stunning line break for the opening try and pulled off several sparkling offloads, but his kicking game, both from the tee and from hand, needs to improve if his international future is to be at fly-half.”

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan is an Irish Times sports writer