Friday, December 27, 2024

Ireland v Fiji: Ireland must be wary of Fiji ‘gamebreakers’ says Jamie Osborne

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Ireland’s Jamie Osborne says the side must be wary of opponents who “can create something out of nothing” when they take on Fiji at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Ireland have never lost to Fiji but the tourists claimed the scalp of Wales in Cardiff two weeks ago.

“They’re a very good side,” said Osborne.

“They’ve a couple of gamebreakers in their team, players that can create something out of nothing.

“They can be hard to prepare for because you don’t want to give them anything, any loose ball.”

Osborne won his third and fourth caps against New Zealand and Argentina this autumn having debuted on the tour of South Africa last summer.

Andy Farrell called his contribution from the bench “immense” against the Pumas as Ireland held on for a 22-19 win but the 23-year-old knows the side as a whole are still searching for their best form.

“I think as a team we wanted to be a bit better and think we can perform better than we showed,” he said of the defeat to the All Blacks and narrow victory over Argentina.

“Argentina was a step up from New Zealand in terms of how we attacked the game at the start, probably a bit inaccurate and ill-disciplined in the second half.

“It was definitely an improvement and we’re hoping to improve again next week.”

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