Bati star Kurt Donoghoe believes the performance of Fiji’s unheralded forwards against Australia proves they can match it with New Zealand’s powerhouse pack in Saturday’s sudden-death clash at Cbus Super Stadium.
Stepping into the five-eighth role, Donoghoe steered the Bati to their closest result against the Kangaroos in eight World Cup meetings – going down 36-22 after scores had been locked 16-16 with 25 minutes to play.
The Dolphins utility came up with three try assists and three line break assists in a man-of-the-match performance but he was quick to praise his team’s forwards for taking the game up to their more fancied rivals.
Sea Eagles lock Caleb Navale, Knights prop Jacob Saifiti, Eels second-rower Kitione Kautoga, former Rabbitoh Taane Milne and Warrington-bound rookie Mitch Prest all stood tall in the pressure cooker atmosphere at The Cauldron.
“I was so happy to see how they went and how they turned up and I’ve got no doubt in my mind they can do it again next week,” Donoghoe said.
“It’s going to be a tough game. We know they’ve got a big pack, a big powerful pack, but you look at what our pack done to Australia’s pack.”
The loss leaves the Bati needing to beat the Kiwis on Saturday to qualify for their fourth World Cup semi-final appearance since 2008 as both teams have lost to Australia and beaten Cook Islands.
Donoghoe believes the lessons from the match against Australia will be what helps his side next weekend at Cbus Super Stadium.
“We’ll recover and regroup and we’ll try to repeat what we’ve done against Australia,” Donoghoe said.
“We can’t get too happy or excited with what happened, at the end of the day we didn’t win, so there’s a few things we need to look at to try and get the win next week.”
Fiji have played Australia on eight occasions in World Cups but their previous closest defeat was by 32 points and Donoghoe revealed how he used the statistic as motivation.
“I actually read that stat this morning and I think it actually fired me up, and a lot of the boys up,” Donoghoe told NRL.com.
“You know a big thing we had going into the game was just belief. Just keep believing in one another and keep turning up for one another, and I’m really proud of the way the boys did that tonight.”
Donoghoe’s sublime ball-playing had the crowd of 41,118 on their feet as three cut-out passes landed on the chest of winger Semei Valemei for tries.
“I went straight up to Kurt after the game and I was like, ‘where’d that cut-out come from’, he’s never thrown one in training,” said skipper Api Koroisau.
Donoghoe, who spent majority of the year at the Dolphins playing lock, reflected on the positional switch coming into this tournament before telling NRL.com he’d be available to play five-eighth at clubland if coach Kristian Woolf wanted him to.
“I haven’t played much [five-eighth] the last few years, but I used to play there a lot, so I really enjoyed being back in that role,” he said.
“It was something different, but I was happy for the challenge and I really enjoyed it. Whatever the Dolphins or Woolfie want me to do then yes, I suppose I would [play in the halves].”
For now, the 24-year-old’s focus is enjoying every minute of camp, building new relationships and representing his grandmother.
“It’s a lot different to NRL. It’s a different bond, different vibe, but you’re just with each other all the time. It’s so much fun, you make friends for life and I’m really enjoying it,” he said.
“Last week I got to play in Newcastle, which is where I’m from, and I had a lot of family and friends there, and then even tonight, I had some Queensland family here.
“It was really good, especially to represent my grandmother and that side of the family. I just I like to see all my family happy to see me do well on the field,” he said.
