Mataiasi Stark 
[Source: Fiji Rugby]
FIJI Water Flying Fijians captain Tevita Ikanivere believes discipline played a major role in Fiji’s 54-17 loss to France in Lyon, admitting the visitors made life difficult for themselves by allowing the hosts to build early momentum.
Ikanivere said Fiji had started the match well and was confident of taking the fight to the French, but costly errors and a yellow card shifted the contest in the home side’s favour.
“I think we started well, but our discipline let us down. We gave France an early start.”
The skipper revealed that preventing France from getting on top early had been a key focus heading into the Test.
“We talked about not giving them an early start, but I think our discipline let us down. We got a yellow card and then we were on the back foot.”
Despite the disappointing result, Ikanivere remains confident the squad can learn from the experience and improve ahead of its next assignment.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board, see what mistakes we made and get better for next week.”
The Flying Fijians will now turn their attention to their upcoming Nations Championship fixture as they look to bounce back from the defeat and finish the European tour strongly.
