Standing in their way, however, is a dogged Georgian side who will be looking to make amends having put in a dour showing against Portugal this past weekend.
Fiji v Georgia
Saturday 30 September
Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux
Fiji 1/16 | Draw 33/1| Georgia 13/2
The equation is a simple one for the Fijians: claim six points from their final two games and they’ll be through to the quarter-finals.
Simon Raiwalui’s men have enjoyed a fantastic campaign thus far, running the Welsh close in their opener to secure a vital losing bonus point in their 32-26 loss to the Dragons and then beating old rivals Australia 15-22 in their second fixture. Things got even better for the islanders this past weekend as Australia were hammered by Wales which saw the Fijians move into pole position to claim the runners-up spot in Pool C.
The Fijians will need to be wary this weekend, however, as while they do come into this one as strong favourites with the bookmakers and their current vintage of players are far more street smart than previous iterations, they do have a history of losing World Cup games they should win as was the case in 2019 when they went down to Uruguay.
While Georgia have underperformed at this World Cup – they went down 35-15 to the Wallabies in their opener and then despite having a brilliant platform somehow conspired to draw 18-18 with Portugal this past weekend – they will still be a threat this Saturday.
Their heavy duty pack will be looking to take the Fijians to task at set piece and slow the game down. They didn’t do this against Portugal and it cost them, so you know the coaching staff will be in the players’ ears about slowing things down and playing at their pace this coming weekend.
I think nerves will come into play here for the Fijians and while I can see them winning the fixture, I don’t think they will clear the handicap.
Verdict: Georgia (+16.5) 10/11
