Fijian national rugby league team
Nickname (s) | Fiji Bati | ||
Association | Fiji National Rugby League | ||
Trainer | Rick Stone | ||
captain | Jayson Bukuya | ||
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Most international matches Wes Naiqama (14) |
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Most Points Scored Wes Naiqama (132) |
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Most attempts scored Akuila Uate (13) |
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First international 18:32 Samoa (1992) |
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Biggest win 54: 6 Cook Islands (1992) |
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Biggest defeat 14:84 Australia (July 12, 1994) |
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World Cup participations: 5 Best results: Semi-finals 2008, 2013, 2017 |
The Fijian national rugby league team , also known by its nickname Fiji Bati , represents Fiji internationally in the sport of rugby league . It is one of the strongest national teams in the world, regularly takes part in the Rugby League World Cup and occupies one of the top positions in the RLIF World Rankings .
history
Although Fijian players can look back on a long tradition in the Australian National Rugby League and its predecessor competitions, the national team was only launched in 1992. In the first game they lost to Samoa 18:32. In 1995 the Fiji Bati made their World Cup premiere, but failed in the preliminary round to the international heavyweights England and Australia . Five years later , this fate was repeated. It wasn't until 2008 that the team survived the preliminary round for the first time, but had no chance in the semi-finals against the Australians . Also in 2013 , the Kangaroos proved to be too strong in the semi-finals . In 2017 Fiji defeated the highly favored New Zealanders 4-2 in the quarter-finals , but then failed for the third time in a row in the semifinals to Australia.