THERE was a beautiful moment pre-match as Fiji’s players bowed and knelt in a show of respect towards President Michael D. Higgins.
Virgin Media pundit Matt Williams noted as the scene was unfolding that Melanesians are a famously respectful people and so it proved.
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Fiji players went above and beyond to show respect to President HigginsCredit: @VirginMediaSport
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There was a ripple of applause from the home crowd in recognition of the nice touchCredit: @VirginMediaSport
The sight of their man-mountain players taking turns to bow or kneel as they shook hands with the diminutive President Higgins sparked a round of applause around the Aviva Stadium in recognition.
There was a big reaction to it online too. Among the many posts about it, Ross Morrissey tweeted: “That was a class moment.”
While Lisa Ryan added: “Beautiful.”
Neil Treacy of RTE noted: “Not a hopping atmosphere, but the sight of the Fijian players bowing as they greeted Michael D Higgins, and the crowd applauding them as they did it was actually a lovely moment.”
And lastly Chris Kelly posted: “Fiji rugby players’ tribute to Michael D Higgins was world-class. Peak of respect.”
It wasn’t the only instance of the visitors ingratiating themselves with the locals either.
On Friday they had practiced their traditional Cibi war dance equipped with hurls for good measure.
They were in St. Brigid’s Russell Park ground in Castleknock, where they received a hurling demonstration from club members.
Many of the motions in the Cibi are almost akin to swinging a follow-through on a hurl, and it did not look out of place in the hands of the Fijian players.
An ancient war dance, it was adopted by the national team in 1939 ahead of a trip to New Zealand in order to rival the All Blacks’ Haka.
Fiji rugby team performs traditional war dance with hurleys during Dublin visit
The last time the Cibi was performed in the Aviva was in 2017, when Ian Keatley’s two late penalties dug Ireland out of a hole as Joe Schmidt’s experimental side edged out a 23-20 win.
Ahead of the third of Ireland’s November Internationals, captain Caelan Doris vowed that they would get to grips with the disciplinary issues which dogged them against New Zealand and Argentina.
Ireland racked up 13 penalties – when the aim is to keep them in single figures – against both.
And the 26-year-old admitted it would be unacceptable for them to rack up that number for the third game on the trot.
He said: “Definitely. It’s something we’ve spoken about a lot over the last couple of weeks.
“There’s no panic buttons being pushed but it’s just about not being desperate.
“I gave away two last week which were just sloppy offsides.
“There’s an onus on everyone to be a little bit more focused, a little bit sharper there.
“And take no chances.”
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