Semi Radradra, winger of the Fijian team eliminated in the quarter-final of the World Cup by England, spoke after the elimination: “That’s rugby, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I think we gave 110% today (Sunday). We learned a lot tonight, we have a lot of young players. We actually invited the English into this match, we gave them a lot of penalties. Against a team of this level, in the quarter-final, it is not possible. We have to stay disciplined, in the end that’s what lost us.” As for Mathieu Reynal’s refereeing, he didn’t really dwell on it: “We can’t control refereeing. Everyone sees different stories on the ground. We have no regrets. The guys continued to work until the end. When we came back to them, we thought we could win. We were completely pumped up. But it didn’t work out in our favor. »
A more than sporting competition for the Fijians: “Against the big teams it’s so difficult. But we are a family. It was very moving when the jerseys were handed out this week, when Sam’s brother (Matavesi, who lost his father at the start of the week, Editor’s note) was there: there were tears, we would have liked to win for him. But unfortunately we did not succeed. It took us sixteen years to get back to the quarter-finals, but anything can happen now, we have a lot of talented young people at home, we just have to learn and continue.” We hope to see them again at this level at the next World Cup in Australia.