Fifty one years ago the Welsh Rugby Union went out on a limb and invited Fiji to tour Wales. The International Rugby Board grudgingly gave its approval, but none of the other Home Unions were prepared to share in the venture.
Eventually the French jumped on board and the Fijians were invited to play five games in Wales and a further five in France. They also played Victoria and a Canadian XV on their way home in British Colombia.
The idea for the tour came in 1959 when Chief Ratu Edward, a Fijian representative who had been educated at Oxford University, approached the WRU at a meeting in Cardiff to discuss the possibility. A formal request from the Fijian Rugby Board, who had as their secretary a Welshman from the Gower, Derek Robinson, was handed to the WRU by the Australian sports writer Phil Tressider in 1961.
The WRU had to underwrite the tour to the tune of £10,000, but stood strong when others around them turned their noses up at the idea and sanctioned the trip. In the end, they made a profit of more than £12,000 as the Welsh crowds flocked to watch the free-running Fijians.
There were 10,000 at the Brewery Field to see the Suva policeman Suliasi Daunitutu bulldoze his way over for the first Fijian try on Welsh soil on 12 September, 1964 in a 23-12 win over a Combined Bridgend-Maesteg XV.
It ended five tries to two in favour over the Fijians, while it was five tries apiece when they were pipped 23-22 by a Combined Glamorgan-Monmouthshrie XV at Newport four days later in front of another big crowd.
They beat a Western Counties XV 12-6 at Stradey Park in front of a crowd of 15,000 and there were even more at Abertillery Park, 17,000, to see the tourists draw 11-11 with a Combined Abertillery-Newbridge XV.
That game was played after the match against a Wales XV at Cardiff Arms Park which was watched by a 50,000 crowd who feasted on 13 tries. The game ended in a 28-22 victory for Brian Price’s Welsh side, but it took a brilliant, one-handed try from Alun Pask
“They drew enormous crowds to their games and everybody took to them. In the clubhouses after games they would all get out their guitars and sing, they were such characters,” recalled Price.
“It was the first time I led Wales and the occasion stands very high in my memory, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. We had a terrific side out for the non-cap match with John Lloyd, Denzil Williams and Norman Gale in the front row and John Mantle and myself behind them.
“We had a strong back-row – I remember Alun Pask scoring a fantastic try – and behind you had people like David Watkins. It was a team packed with full internationals.
“They were giving us the run-around, so much so that I risked being booed out of the ground by asking David to kick a penalty for goal before half-time – we were absolutely shattered!” Price told BBC Wales in 2007.
“We had dominated the line-out, though, and thought we’d continue to control possession and do what we wanted in the second half. But Fiji were great thinkers about the game. They saw what was happening at the line-out and decided to throw it over the top and race for it.
“They were quicker than us to the ball and that helped them come back seriously, we had to dig deep before winning 28-22. At the end we all linked hands and sang ‘Now is the Hour’. The crowd all joined in – it was a terrific finale to a terrific match.”
Fiji were trailing 28-9, but finished with a flourish by scoring 13 points in 12 minutes. And all that despite losing their biggest forward with a dislocated shoulder after only 10 minutes.
Swansea wing Dewi Bebb and Aberavon centre Dave Thomas scored two tries each and there were others from Pask, David Weaver and Gary Prothero for Wales. For Fiji, prop forward Sevaro Walisiliso grabbed a hat-trick and there were further scores from superb No 8 Aca Soqosoqo, scrum half Jese Mucunabitu and wing Aporosa Robe.
David Watkins also kicked a penalty for Wales that day and he remembers the game with great affection: “No-one really knew what to expect from them. It was a new beginning as far as rugby was concerned, the emergence of Fiji as a rugby nation.
“They were out to prove a point to the International Rugby Board, to show that they were capable of matching their skills and abilities against the home nations. They were all massive, they could motor, had huge body strength, and hands so big that they could hide the ball in them – people in Wales were amazed at their size and how they operated as a team.”
Five years later, Wales became the first northern hemisphere nation to visit Fiji at the end of their tour to New Zealand and Australia. This time the Newbridge No 8 Dennis Hughes grabbed a hat-trick of tries in a 31-11 win in Suva.
Only Maurice Richards and Denzil Williams survived from the original game in the Welsh side, while only back row man Sela Toga remained in the Fijian ranks. The relationship between the two nations has flourished since then and tonight’s game will be the 13th meeting between the two sides.
To date the only Fijian victory came in Nantes at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Will lightening strike twice?
