0 Like Wigginton he was coming off a career best HRFB rate in 2008 21

Fiji have won 14 medals at the Commonwealth games since joining in 1938 and 3 of the medals they won was in Rugby 7's, a sport fiji has excelled in since 1976.Fiji is ranked as a Top 10 rugby playing nations in the world in the 15's version of the game and they re-wrote history in 2007 when they beat Wales in pool play to make the quarter-finals of a Rugby World Cup for only the second time in its 20 year history and gave the eventual winners, South Africa a run for their money. Recently, the Fiji Rugby union has faced many problems relating to the selection of teams, the job of the coaches and the discipline of the players and management.In the 2009 Pacific Nations Cup, fiji were placed second but a few weeks later, the fiji coach Ilivasi Tabua, the man who took fiji to the quarter finals in the 2007 RWC was sacked after an off-field incident during the Pacific Nations Cup. The trio were former australian great, Glen Ella; former all black Mike Brewer and a former waratah lock, Sam Domoni with the latter chosen as the head coach designate. Sam Domoni also demanded the players not to perform the "cibi" (Fiji's version of the Haka) which fiji has performed in all matches in its 70 year history. Domoni who is also a pastor described the war-chant as a relic of the islands pre-christian past.Fiji had 3 match on tour but were without the services of a few of their top players such as winger Vilimoni Delasau who had flight problems, centre Kameli Ratuvou who pulled out to concentrate on his club games and flanker Netani Talei who was injured. A few top fiji players were never approached by Mike Brewer whose job was to make sure all fiji's top players were available for all of fiji matches.

The likes of Sisa Koyamaibole, Marika Vakacegu, Timoci Nagusa, Isa Nacewa were not selected. Fiji played well in the first half in their first game against Scotland but lost 23-10 due to a simple errors and poor defence in the 2nd half. They lost a few good players after the game as these players such as dangerous winger, Napolioni Nalaga and prop Deacon Manu returned to their clubs as Brewer didn't go to the IRB to force clubs to release player for the duration of the tour and thus the players were forced to return to their clubs. Ireland played with their top players against fiji and like the previous week, fiji played well in the first half but were decimated in the 2nd half and they lost 41-6.

Their final game was against Romania, a team ranked 9 places below fiji.Fiji lost the services of all their overseas based players except england based Josh Matavesi and Apolosi Satala, who captained the side and france based Gabrieli Lovobalavu, Vereniki Goneva and Norman Ligairi. Ireland based winger, Timoci Nagusa (who wasn't selected for the first match against Scotland but got his first start for fiji in 6 months after being unceremoniously dumped by the then Fiji coach, Ilivasi tabua during the Pacific Nations Cup) on the right wing and former fiji rugby league winger, Semi Tadulala made his debut on the other wing. Fiji's scrummaging was poor throughout the game as fiji based players made the core of the forwards and the lineouts were poor as well. The romanians took advantage of the fiji's lack of experience in the forwards to lead 11-7 at half time but the fijians who in the previous games slowed down in the 2nd half played brilliantly and tries to Nagusa, Jonetani Ratu and Jimilai Naikadawa and good goal-kicking from stand-in fly-half Josh Matavesi as fiji went on to defeat the romanians by 29-18. The poor performance by fiji in the europe tour was a sign of things to come.

The banning of the "cibi", a tradition fiji had followed for over 70 years didn't sit in well with the fijian rugby pundits and fans alike.Fiji; a country where rugby is religion, has faced many problems in the last few years and hopefully they would rise again from the ashes like the phoenix and repeat their feat in the 2011 Rugby Word Cup in New Zealand.... . Last week we looked at players who saw a power surge in 2009 and tried to decide whose was for real and whose was an aberration (click here to read). Still, we’d have liked to see the home run numbers grow thanks to those extra flyballs. Could he have grown too fixated on the long ball Quite possibly, which, when coupled with all the strikeouts, make it impossible for him to hit for a strong average. Unless he rebounds to 30 HR, he’s unusable for fantasy owners (that is if he even has an everyday job in 2010).2) Ty Wigginton: Baltimore Orioles: -10.6 He was coming off a career best 18.5, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he saw a regression, but to the second-worst mark of his career That seems a little extreme. Still, he’s unlikely to be given an everyday job in 2010, so despite a rebound being likely, he’s not a player that’s worth targeting.3) David Wright: New York Mets: -9.8 Was it the new stadium The pressure of being the last man standing Something entirely different If it is one of those reasons or something entirely different, it is hard to imagine anything but a significant improvement in 2010.4) Milton Bradley: Chicago Cubs: -9.0 Like Wigginton, he was coming off a career best HR/FB rate in 2008 (21.2), so the fact that he saw a decrease should not be very shocking news.