The mind and body should be ready for the task ahead.
Those are the words of Fiji’s 2007 World Cup coach Ilivasi Tabua as less than four hours remain for the Rugby World Cup to kick off in NZ.
Tabua has played in two World Cup tournaments and coached Fiji in the last tournament in France.
Known as the Human Skewer, Tabua played for the Wallabies in the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa and later played for Fiji in the 1999 World Cup.
As a Wallaby, Tabua played with players like John Eales, George Gregan, Michael Lynagh, Joe Roff, Matt Burke, David Campese, Tim Horan and Jason Little.
As a World Cup expert, being a former player and coach, Tabua said tonight starts off the biggest rugby union gathering and following in the world when the All Blacks take on Tonga.
He said the atmosphere will be electric and the players have to be in the right state of mind and not lose their focus.
Tabua reminisces about the 1995 World Cup when he as a Wallaby was in South Africa to defend the Webb Ellis trophy for Australia and South African leader Nelson Mandela was using the game of rugby to unite the nation.
He said its play mode now for the 20 nations taking part in the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament.
He also said the pressure is on the All Blacks to win after 24 years as in the past, NZ has only been the number one team in the world between the World Cup tournaments.
You can catch Ilivasi Tabua with the new voice of rugby, Malakai Veisamasama for the live commentary of the All Blacks vs Tonga match at 8.30 tonight on Viti FM.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
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Players have to be in RWC mindset - Tabua
