Pieter de Villiers warns Scotland a ‘strong challenge’ awaits against Fiji

Pieter de Villiers has warned Scotland to expect a much tougher test away to Fiji on Saturday than when the two sides last met in November.

The Scots cruised to an eight-try 57-17 victory at Murrayfield eight months ago, but the visitors were under-strength as the match fell outside the designated international window.

Scrum coach De Villiers anticipates the Fijians being a far more competitive opponent in Suva this weekend after running Australia close in a 21-18 defeat on Sunday.

“I think Fiji are a good side currently and they probably have a stronger squad than when we played last time, just because they’ve got more players available to them,” he said on Monday.

“Playing them at (their) home where there will be a lot of support and where they want to do well, I think it’s quite a physical Fiji side at the moment as well. So yes, we expect a strong challenge from them and that’s what we’re looking forward to.

“It will be important to match the physicality that they’re currently bringing to opposition. I thought they did very well against Australia as well, so we need to be up for that physical challenge.”

Scotland are expected to select several more established players against Fiji after fielding a largely experimental team in the first game of their South Pacific summer tour on Saturday, a 29-26 victory over Maori All Blacks in a non-cap international in Whangarei.

“Like we often do in the summer tour, we want to use everyone that’s on tour, give everyone an opportunity to express themselves and have a go or get game time on the field, so there will probably be some changes this weekend again,” said De Villiers.

“But I thought the guys who got their opportunity on Saturday really did a good job against a strong, well-organised, physical Maori side, so we’re quite happy with how the boys went on Saturday.”

De Villiers confirmed Glasgow forward Gregor Brown will miss the Fiji match after suffering a concussion on Saturday, while Edinburgh back-rower Ben Muncaster is recovering from a dead leg.